Madrid housing protest: two decrees face Friday vote
At Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Spain, a housing protest camp is pressing for change: the Congress of Deputies votes on two housing decrees on Friday. On Wednesday, Culture Minister and Sumar spokesman Ernest Urtasun thanked the protesters for their peaceful action and urged them to keep going. Spain’s Council of Ministers approved the decrees on Tuesday.
Urtasun wants both measures to pass. He accused the conservative People’s Party of distancing itself from them before it knew what they contained. He also said there had been talk of Madrid’s regional government and city council clearing the camp. The protesters, he said, were getting institutions to act.
One decree would close loopholes in short-term and room rentals, according to Urtasun. The combined rent for individual rooms could not exceed the rent for the whole home. He also said the measures would protect people in vulnerable situations from eviction, and expressed hope that Junts would support them.
Under the decree, Urtasun said, so-called vulture funds would not be able to evict tenants or receive compensation from the authorities. Small landlords with two or three homes, by contrast, would be compensated. The vote on both decrees is still to come.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com