Housing and financing are the two big files holding together Salvador Illa’s coalition, and they’ll determine whether this legislature succeeds or fails. The policy debate leaves Illa with a parliamentary defeat, because the Catalan parliament has blocked his flagship measure to mobilise land for up to 200,000 homes. And it did so with abstentions from his coalition partners ERC and the Comuns. It’s a warning shot for the president, who’ll need to speed up if he wants to pass a budget. His partners have already warned him that he’s running out of time.
Parliament endorsed measures on housing, but the Comuns didn’t vote in favour of the PSC’s proposals to show their discontent. The reinforcement of the 50,000 homes plan and the plan to rehabilitate flats, for example, went ahead with abstentions from Jéssica Albiach’s group. However, Illa’s big announcement – to mobilise available building land for private developers to build homes (most of which from 2028 onwards) – was rejected with abstentions from coalition partners.
ERC and the Comuns expressed reservations on Tuesday, and finally parliament rejected the approach. Nevertheless, the Government can still push it forward if it considers it appropriate. The Comuns’ spokesperson David Cid insisted this legislature must be about housing and trains. Cid complained that 25% of flats are in the hands of 1% of owners and that speculators aren’t being sanctioned.
Budget negotiations at stake over Catalan housing plan
The spokesperson called on the executive to enforce the law and said Catalonia is behind in protected housing construction, which he blamed on Junts governments. In any case, Cid warned they can’t just make announcements for 2030. “Budget negotiations are at stake in complying with credit supplement agreements,” he said.
Parliament called for urgent processing, before November, of emergency housing measures, including seasonal rentals, and enforcing the law by applying the sanctions regime against speculators. Also the transfer of Sareb flats to the Generalitat, which Illa announced the Catalan administration will be able to manage.
In contrast, the chamber rejected studying a ban on speculative flat purchases, with PSC abstaining – one of the Comuns’ flagship proposals that ERC also made in similar terms. The commitment to financing reform is also maintained, as is the need to strengthen the Catalan Tax Agency. And PSC voted for ERC’s proposal calling for the Generalitat to be enabled to collect IRPF, an issue to be debated in Congress that PSOE views with reluctance, but which obtained the chamber’s support.
Patience wearing thin
Beyond this, parliament insisted the new model must respect the principles of solidarity and ordinality, the latter an element the State also resists accepting. In coming weeks, the Catalan and Spanish governments must make a concrete proposal on the new model. Republicans condition this to opening budget negotiations.
ERC spokesperson Ester Capella said answers are needed on financing and denounced the fiscal pillaging of 22 billion euros. “We don’t want privileges, we want what’s ours,” she said, demanding the new model be specified, which must be singular. The republicans warned Illa that their patience is running out. “Those who wait, despair,” Capella insisted.
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