Isabel Rodríguez, Spain’s Minister of Housing (of the ruling Socialist Party, PSOE), defended her party’s stance in Congress this week after sharp criticism from Etna Estrems, an MP for the hard-left Catalan nationalist party Esquerra Republicana (ERC).
The row over temporary rentals
Estrems accused the Socialists of “turning this into the legislature of speculators, rentiers, and major landlords” by failing to regulate seasonal lets and room rentals, while at the same time pumping money into private markets. She argued that this approach “makes the rich even richer” and ignores the needs of ordinary people.
ERC tabled a bill earlier this year, together with other far-left parties like Sumar, Bildu, Podemos and BNG, to regulate temporary rentals and room lets by subjecting them to the same conditions as long-term rentals (which would kill the segment). But when it was put to a vote, it was rejected — not only by the right-wing parties (PP and Vox), but also by PSOE and the Catalan nationalist Junts party.
Rodríguez pushed back, insisting that the Socialists do support the idea of temporary rental regulation and expect legislation to move forward “sooner rather than later.”
A clash of housing visions
ERC wants stronger state intervention: new taxes on speculators, caps on rents, and tougher restrictions on tourist apartments. Estrems even called for tourist flats to face VAT of up to 21% and for owners of unused second homes to be penalised.
Rodríguez countered that progress is already being made. She highlighted that Spain’s stock of public housing has risen from 2.4% to 3.5% of the total between 2021 and 2024 — edging closer to the European average of 8% — and that construction of subsidised housing (VPO) rose 68% last year, compared with just 14% growth in the free market.
She also accused regional governments run by the conservative Popular Party (PP) of blocking the national Housing Law “out of pure sectarianism” and preventing rents from falling, as she claims has happened in Catalonia where the law has been applied.
More criticism from the right
Rodríguez’s defence did little to convince the opposition. Miriam Guardiola, an MP for the PP, branded the government’s housing policy a “failure,” and dismissed the minister’s defence as excuses.
Rodríguez, in turn, urged the PP not to stand in the way of a new national Housing Plan, which she argued is designed “not for the government, but for people — the young adults unable to leave home, families in rural areas, and students giving up university places because they can’t find affordable accommodation.”
Why this matters
Spain’s housing crisis is now the country’s hottest political issue. Behind the parliamentary sparring lies a deep ideological divide: should housing policy rely more on regulating the private market through taxes and rent controls, or on expanding public housing while working within existing market frameworks?
With temporary rentals and tourist flats growing rapidly, and rents squeezing households across Spain, the outcome of this battle will have a direct impact on property owners, landlords, and tenants alike.
