Housing: decree repeal rekindles PSOE's young vote in Spain

The collapse of the housing decrees rekindles the hopes of PSOE voters

The repeal of the two royal decrees on housing has produced a collateral effect nobody had predicted: a large part of the left-wing electorate is once again looking at Pedro Sánchez with something close to enthusiasm. They had been listless and disillusioned for months, and suddenly there was a spark. The narrative going around is that the PSOE has won back young voters through this standoff, even though the legislative outcome is, for now, a outright failure.

What did the decrees propose and why did they fail?

The Government brought two bills with measures on rentals and social housing to Congress. They did not pass. The PP, Vox and Junts voted against them and that was the end of the attempt, with Congress President Armengol later leading a housing march in Palma. The official reading is that Sánchez wanted to do something and the opposition blocked him; the critical reading is that he had been governing for eight years —since 2018— and the rental problem was hardly yesterday's news.

And there lies the contradiction that underpins the whole narrative: the intention is applauded even though the result is zero. For better or worse, they say, at least someone put forward a project. The problem is that a project submitted is not a home delivered.

The 184,000-home plan: what has actually been mobilized

The flagship plan is the Affordable Rental Housing scheme, with a target of 184,000 homes. It includes the 50,000 from Sareb, 11,000 from the Social Fund, Defense Ministry land and other programs. In August 2024 the Government said it had mobilized 80,745 of those 184,000. To that is added an ICO credit line of 4 billion for social and affordable housing, plus 2 billion in guarantees.

It sounds like a lot until you look at the calendar. A calculation circulating in the debate sums it up wryly: if it took eight years to reach these figures, the 300,000 homes that were promised have no foundations even on paper. Counting against it is the fact that part of this land depends on city councils and regional governments that go their own way, and that the statistic of "mobilized" does not equal "delivered."

The other front: owner Spain versus renter Spain

The approach gaining ground is that of pure class conflict: the struggle between those who own a home and those who rent. Homeownership is widespread in the provinces, where the brick-and-mortar mindset still rules, and that is where the anti-intervention message finds fertile ground. Some argue that price controls make the problem worse and that the measure was already tried in Roman times without success.

The data that unsettles the left itself is about wealth: Sánchez bought his first home at 22 and his vvife owned three before turning 35; the couple owns six homes and two garages. It is the image the opposition uses to argue that the renter's diagnosis is being written by a major landlord.

What the PSOE stands to gain or lose from this standoff

The move has clear electoral logic: winning back the young people who left and mobilizing a voter base that had long gone quiet. The problem is that the withdrawn decrees build nothing, and the withdrawal of homes from protected rentals continues. The narrative wins in the polls; the statistics do not move as fast.

With these materials, the enthusiasm holds as long as nobody asks for the keys. And that, exactly, is where the analysis gets stuck.