Spain approves the housing decrees that triggered Sanchez's snap election gamble as polls put him on course to lose
From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026 · last updated 7 October 2026.
Riot police on Barcelona streets, as Pedro Sánchez's government plans emergency measures including an eviction freeze until 2030 and a ban on speculative property purchases.Barcelona's streets in the aftermath of a mass housing protest, where almost 30 officers were injured and 13 people arrested — including a juvenile — during overnight clashes.
Spain's government has approved the same housing decrees parliament rejected last week — the defeat that led Pedro Sanchez to call a snap election for November 29. In a televised address, Sanchez acknowledged errors and a failure to deliver on campaign pledges, telling Spaniards they must now choose whether to resist what he described as a "far-right wave." Opinion polls put the conservative People's Party on 34% against 26% for his Socialists, with far-right Vox on 18% as likely coalition partners.
The housing crisis was set off by the televised eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid flat she had called home since 1956.
A PP-Vox coalition victory would be the first time a far-right party has entered Spain's central government since dictator Francisco Franco's death.
Sanchez faces a steep climb: his minority government has repeatedly struggled to pass legislation and he has already been weakened by corruption cases and a migrant crisis backlash.
