The decision to bring the election forward came after Parliament on Friday rejected two government housing decrees aimed at addressing problems in the rental market. The measures included stronger protections for vulnerable tenants, extensions to certain rental contracts and new regulations affecting tourist rentals.
The move also comes as protests have spread across Spain following the eviction of an 87-year-old woman who had lived in her Madrid home for more than 70 years and was unable to afford a sharply increased rent.
In a televised address to the nation on Monday, Sánchez said the government needed to “renew and strengthen the trust” placed in it by citizens.
He argued that achieving the reforms his government seeks would require “the support of the people and a broad majority in favour of change”, which could “overcome the obstacles posed by those with greater power and vested interests.”
Sánchez’s government is made up of his Socialist Party and the Sumar coalition, but it does not hold a majority in Parliament.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in cities including Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, demanding stronger protections for renters.
Maricarmen Abascal, 87, has become a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis after she was forcibly evicted from her Madrid home on September 23, following decades of living there.
A legal gap allowed the landlord to raise her monthly rent from €500 to €2,650. It was later reduced to €1,650, but that was still €300 more than her monthly pension.
The elderly woman was removed from the property on a hospital stretcher and later taken to hospital.
In an effort to ease the protests, the government introduced two housing decrees.
The first proposed suspending evictions of vulnerable tenants without alternative accommodation until 2030, while extending by two years rental contracts due to expire before the end of 2028.
It also included measures to impose a 10% VAT on tourist accommodation rentals, as part of efforts to regulate the growing short-term rental market.
