People take part during a protest in Madrid, Spain, on Sunday, May 24, 2026, against rising housing costs that are pricing many Spaniards out of the market amid a broader housing crisis in Spain.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has called an early general election for November 29 after parliament rejected his government’s emergency measures aimed at tackling the country’s housing crisis. The move comes amid growing public anger over unaffordable rents, evictions and rising housing costs.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid and around 50 other Spanish cities on Saturday, demanding stronger action on the housing crisis. Around 70,000 people joined the Madrid demonstration, according to the Spanish government, with some protesters carrying posters calling for a general strike. Housing measures rejected in parliament The protests followed Friday’s defeat of government measures introduced after the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid triggered widespread public anger.
A second decree sought to make residential leases automatically renewable by tenants, according to the Associated Press. “What is behind these decrees is the desire to instill order and a sense of humanity in a market that if we do not rein it in will destroy our society,” Sánchez said. The proposals included measures to prevent the eviction of vulnerable people, discourage property speculation and provide tax incentives to encourage renting. The measures were rejected after Catalan separatist party Junts voted against them, alongside the centre-right Popular Party and far-right Vox. Other smaller parties also opposed the second decree. Sánchez urges lawmakers to act Sánchez had appealed to lawmakers to approve the measures during a five-hour parliamentary debate, arguing that they were needed to bring greater regulation and fairness to the housing market. He concluded his appeal by telling lawmakers: “Do the right thing, or history will judge you, and sooner than you think. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.