The Parliament has decided not to admit for processing a bill that aimed to combat housing harassment and discrimination in access to housing through a system of economic and administrative sanctions.
The legislative proposal, which therefore will not continue its parliamentary journey, had the support of the left-wing groups (22 votes) and the rejection of the PP and Vox (29 votes).
The text was registered in January 2025 by the then Unidas Podemos deputy, Cristina Gómez. Currently, her seat is occupied by José María García, from Esquerra Unida, who has assumed the defense of the initiative in the plenary session held this Tuesday.
The bill aimed to provide the public administrations of the Balearic Islands with legal tools to safeguard citizens' right to access "decent and adequate housing in conditions of equality and non-discrimination."
The articles proposed defining housing harassment as "any action or omission to the detriment of the person occupying a dwelling with the purpose of disturbing them in the peaceful use thereof" and, in certain cases, with the purpose of "forcing the occupant to vacate the dwelling or adopt any other type of unwanted decision."
These behaviors included the "unjustified" refusal of the owner to collect rent, the breach of the landlord's obligations, the interruption of basic utilities, the "caused" loss of the property's habitability, or the disturbance of the legitimate use of the dwelling.
The regulation provided that these practices could be punished with fines or other complementary sanctions imposed by the administrations. In the case of large holders, it was contemplated, for example, the obligation to provide another dwelling to the affected person.
Cases of housing harassment "skyrocketed"
García pointed out that harassment or pressure on tenants to leave a dwelling, known as housing harassment, "is part of the financial value given to real estate" and appears when owners want to "get more profit from them."
He indicated that this is a situation "that is not strange or infrequent" in the Balearic Islands, where crimes linked to these practices have "skyrocketed," although on many occasions "they are neither reported nor investigated."
As he explained, the duration and cost of criminal or civil proceedings, "long and costly," influence this, which victims, often in precarious situations, cannot afford, as well as the difficulty of proving these crimes, which end up going "unpunished."
He described actions such as cutting off water or electricity supply or sending "thugs" to homes, aimed at "getting rid of those who hinder speculative activity" in the residential market.
The deputy insisted that none of the measures provided for in the bill constituted an attack on private property or raised a "moral debate," and therefore, in his opinion, all groups should have supported it.
Socialist Carol Marqués defended that the text sought to offer responses to a problem that affects "thousands of people in the Balearic Islands" who, "despite having a job and fulfilling their obligations, see how accessing or maintaining decent housing has become an impossible obstacle course."
She warned that the strong competition to get housing, which in her opinion drives up prices, "always affects the same people, those with more difficult lives, with fewer resources and with less ability to defend themselves."
"That is why we have to talk about discrimination in access to housing. There are families rejected for having children or young people who are automatically rejected because they do not have a high enough salary or a permanent contract," she remarked.
From MÉS per Mallorca, deputy Ferran Rosa drew attention to the extent of discrimination in access to housing and denounced that the Government "does nothing" in the face of this reality.
"It's not one, two, or three cases in the Balearic Islands," he indicated, citing a study by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations which concludes that "99% of real estate agencies admit to using discriminatory practices at the request of owners to exclude tenants based on their skin color or origin."
"It is direct exclusion of people based on their condition. They do not rent to families with children or people of other nationalities, unless they are white, to them yes. Nor to those with pets or who are self-employed. And if they rent to them, they impose abusive conditions such as asking for six months' deposit, even though it is illegal," he added.
Debate on private property and legal certainty
The PP deputy Margalida Pocoví has stated that the vote against by her group "should not surprise anyone" and has defended that the right to housing and the right to property "must coexist" because they are not "opposed".
"Any conduct of harassment, abuse, or violation of tenants' rights must be vigorously prosecuted, but we cannot share a narrative that, more or less directly, points to private property as one of the responsible parties for the serious crisis we are suffering," she stated.
She maintained that it is the administrations, and not the owners, who must adopt policies to increase supply, strengthen the stock of social housing, and ensure access to affordable housing.
For Vox, deputy Patricia de las Heras has opined that one of the central factors in the lack of affordable housing is the lack of legal certainty, a scenario that, in her opinion, this law would worsen.
She argued that the sanctioning regime proposed by Unidas Podemos, in addition to prosecuting situations that "are not coercion offenses" such as utility cutoffs, would end up further reducing the supply of rental housing.
In her opinion, the housing crisis should be addressed by expanding the land available for construction, giving "absolute priority" to Spaniards in access to social housing, and eliminating VAT on home purchases.