EPA/ShutterstockThousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Spain calling for greater protections for tenants after the government failed to get emergency housing legislation through parliament on Friday.
About 50 planned marches were expected to take place in cities such as Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona on Saturday – with some already under way.
“There is a lot of anger in the streets,” said a spokesperson for the Valencia Tenants’ Union, where a demonstration has already started. Clashes have taken place between some protesters and police in the city.
The measures put forward by Pedro Sánchez’s leftist coalition government on Friday followed public outcry over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home last month after she was unable to afford a sharp rent increase.
Sanchez’s defeat in Congress on Friday heightens speculation that he might call an early general election, which was not due until next summer.
His coalition government, made up of his ruling Socialist party and junior partner the Sumar alliance, does not command a majority in parliament.
Photographs showed protesters in the east coast city of Valencia clashing with police officers on Saturday near arts centre Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, which was hosting a real estate summit.
Several protesters removed barriers and threw objects at officers, who responded with rubber bullets, Spanish media reported.
EPA/ShuttershockThe biggest demonstration was expected to take place in the capital Madrid. Demonstrators have been camping in one of the city’s main squares, Puerta del Sol, for days.
One protester, David, told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE ahead of the protest: “We’re not here for pleasure or comfort. We’re here out of conviction.”
On Friday night, the Madrid’s Tenants’ Union said that although the government’s proposed measures were insufficient, the rejection of the proposed legislation “exacerbates the housing crisis which is costing the working class their lives”.
It is calling for a general strike over the housing crisis.
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EPA/ShutterstockThe legislation put forward in Congress on Friday was divided into two separate decrees.
The first decree included the suspension of evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, a two-year extension to rental leases due to expire before 2028, tax increases for tourist apartments, and a restriction on the purchase of residential properties by so-called “vulture funds”.
The second decree included the automatic renewal of rental contracts, a major demand of many on the left and the Tenant’s Union.
MPs rejected the first decree by 178 votes to 172 and voted against the second by 184 to 166.
Prior to the vote, the conservative People’s Party (PP) and far-right Vox had already said they would vote against both initiatives, leaving the minority government depending on the support of smaller nationalist parties in Catalonia and the Basque Country.
However, by the eve of the parliamentary session, the centre-right, pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JxCat) had signalled its opposition to both laws, condemning them to failure.
Sánchez’s ruling coalition hurriedly drew up the decree laws in an effort to defuse the housing protests that were sparked when 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted in September.
The social backlash led to the company that owns Abascal’s flat, Urbagestión, negotiating her return to the flat on a low rent. However, protests have continued.
The Bank of Spain estimates the country is short of 700,000 homes, based on the gap between demand and new construction.
House prices have risen by 12.2% in the past year, according to figures for the second quarter of 2026 from national statistics institute INE.
The shortage in rental housing means that costs rose by 8.5% in 2025, according to real estate firm Idealista, with Madrid alone seeing an increase of 9.7% in rents.
It said Barcelona and Madrid were Spain’s most expensive cities to rent a home, at €23.80 per square metre and €22.70 per square metre respectively.
