A majority of parliamentary groups consider it “essential and urgent” to promote a new law in Catalonia to recover social rentals to prevent evictions

The Esquerra, CUP, Junts and Comuns parliamentary groups have drafted a bill to recover and extend the anti-eviction measures annulled by the Spanish Constitutional Court when Decree Law 17/2019 was overturned. The groups consider it urgent to pass a new law as soon as possible, as the current moratorium on evictions ends on 9 August, and thousands of vulnerable families need protection from large property holdings, mostly banks and vulture funds.

Decree Law 17/2019 had broad political and social backing and included measures proposed by social entities such as the Plataforma Afectats per les Hipoteques – the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, or the Sindicat de Llogateres tenants’ union, who are also now working together with the parliamentary groups. While it was in force, it prevented 4,000 families from being evicted by obliging social rental agreements between large landlords with empty homes and families who either could not pay rental or had squatted for economic reasons. However, in response to an appeal filed by 86 People’s Party parliamentarians, the Spanish Constitutional Court overturned the decree last January alleging a formal issue – that the bill was passed as a “decree law” and not as a “law”. Now Esquerra Republicana, Junts, CUP and Comuns want to bring it back into the statute books.

That is why, this time the parliamentary groups that want to battle the housing crisis and guarantee the right to housing are introducing a bill for a “Law to extend urgent measures to deal with the housing emergency,” and they call for urgent passage through parliament. The law complements the pioneer regulation that was passed last year in Parliament limiting rents in Catalonia.

The text obliges large property holdings to offer vulnerable tenants social rents before going to court.