The federal spokesperson for Izquierda Unida (IU) and deputy of Sumar in Congress, Enrique Santiago, has emphasized that the minority force of the Executive is not proposing "maximum" solutions regarding housing and has pointed out that there are "absolute differences" with the Socialist Party to finalize the housing decree that the Government wants to approve this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers.
The also general secretary of the Communist Party has stated that "There is still a lot of work to be done" on the royal decree on housing, a text that, for now, does not include the automatic renewal of rental contracts due to the lack of consensus with the socialists, nor the "prohibition of speculative buying," as he explained in an interview on the '24 hours' channel, reported by Europa Press.
Likewise, he has stressed that the regulation of room rentals is another element of friction with the majority partner of the Government. If an understanding is not finally achieved, Santiago has pointed out that "we will have to see" the "global" result of the text that is submitted for approval by the Council of Ministers.
At the same time, he has issued a warning to the PSOE, Junts, and the Popular Party, who already rejected the previous housing decree of the Executive in January in Congress, by stating that they "are not in a position" to "not want to advance in the prohibition of speculative buying and selling" because the citizens are "outraged."
In this line, he has defended that Sumar is channeling "the feeling of the citizens" and that they perceive the population as "outraged" but "with greater responsibility" as part of the Government. Therefore, Santiago has explained that this new decree seeks to articulate "urgent solutions" for "emergency cases" and "avoid" evictions "like that of Maricarmen," the 87-year-old woman evicted last Wednesday.
The IU leader has acknowledged that the housing law approved in 2023 "has not turned out" as they had anticipated, unlike the labor reform, which has indeed reduced temporality "from 80% to 40%." As he has admitted, the norm "Unfortunately has not managed to control the price of housing," nor to turn it "into a right."
For this reason, he has urged to "seek structural solutions," which "exist in the legislation of other countries in the world" and which, in part, were already applied exceptionally during the pandemic, such as the prohibition of evictions, measures that were extended for years.
"If there is a general agreement in Spanish society and since Covid year after year they are being extended, I believe that the time has come for us to stop extensions and for them to be structurally established in the legislation," he concluded.
Despite the open discrepancies, Santiago wanted to highlight the advances already agreed upon with the PSOE to incorporate them into the new housing decree, among which he mentioned the extension of the extraordinary extension of rental contracts until 2028 and the moratorium on evictions affecting tenants in a situation of vulnerability.