Sumar threatens to stand up the Council of Ministers if the housing decree is not approved

The parties of the Sumar space have warned this Saturday through a statement that, if this coming Tuesday the housing decree to face the housing crisis in Spain is not approved in the Council of Ministers, they will once again stand up in the Council of Ministers as they did half a year ago. In the text, Movimiento Sumar, Izquierda Unida, Más Madrid and Comuns warn that they will do “both at a political and institutional level whatever is necessary to approve this decree now” and maintain that “society is not going to accept partial responses or watered down measures in the face of the drama of evictions and in the face of a deep and urgent problem such as the housing crisis.”

The four groups urge that next Tuesday the Council of Ministers approve “a package of effective measures to combat the housing crisis.” They consider that “patches are no longer worth it” and, specifically, they demand that the new decree include the reinforced extension of rents, the protection of families against evictions and vulture funds, the regulation of speculative uses of housing such as tourist apartments and “fraud” in seasonal or room rentals.

In addition, they ask for the recovery of Maricarmen's home, as well as the automatic renewal of rental contracts "so that no one has to leave their home because someone wants to do business with them."

Sumar considers that this agreement is the responsibility of the Government and that it was precisely born with the mandate to address the housing situation. The space also demands that the PSOE “stop putting itself in profile.”

Maricarmen's eviction has undoubtedly been a turning point. In Sumar's eyes, what happened has shown that housing has become the “great factory of inequality in society” and “the wound from which democracy bleeds.” Along these lines, they defend that the country "needs a great agreement on this matter that prevents any Maricarmen from being expelled from their home and that protects the hundreds of thousands of people who cannot make ends meet because of housing."

For all these reasons, they remember that six months ago the five space ministers - Yolanda Díaz, Ernest Urtasun, Pablo Bustinduy, Mónica García and Sira Rego - refused to enter the Council of Ministers until the PSOE agreed to approve the decree that extended the rents. Now they threaten to do the same this Tuesday if this rule is not implemented.

For their part, from the socialist wing of the Executive they report that the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, has already explained that work is being done to bring this royal decree to the Council of Ministers next Tuesday. The Ministry is negotiating with parliamentary groups, including Junts, to ensure that this time the decree will succeed in Congress. The Government has the challenge of reconciling the demands of the post-convergents or the PNV with those of Podemos, with very different approaches.

The spokesperson for JxCat, Miriam Nogueras, stated yesterday that the Executive views their proposals “with good eyes”, focused on tax relief for tenants and mortgage holders or on prohibiting evictions from apartments owned by large investment funds.