Junts argued that rent regulation is a Catalan competence and that a national emergency cap would constrain the Generalitat's own housing legislation; the party's defection was decisive in the vote's defeat.Source: El País / Congress records

What is Junts and why does it matter to Spanish housing policy?

Junts (Junts per Catalunya) is a Catalan pro-independence party that holds parliamentary leverage over the minority Spanish government, enabling it to condition votes on housing and nomad-Visa legislation.Source: nomads-and-communities topic context

Is Junts in government in Spain?

Junts is not in the Spanish Coalition government but provides external support to Pedro Sánchez's minority administration on a case-by-case basis, often extracting concessions on Catalan autonomy and economic policy.Source: nomads-and-communities topic context

Background

Junts per Catalunya (Junts, 'Together for Catalonia') is a Catalan pro-independence party founded by former President Carles Puigdemont in 2020. In the Spanish Congress of Deputies, Junts holds a small but decisive bloc of seats that the PSOE-Sumar Coalition requires to reach a governing majority on non-budgetary legislation. Junts has historically extracted significant concessions from PSOE in exchange for support, including the 2024 amnesty law for Catalan independence leaders, and approaches each vote as a transactional negotiation rather than ideological alignment.

In the April 2026 rent-freeze vote, Junts's refusal to support the extension contributed to its defeat. The party's stated reasoning was that national emergency rent caps are a competence that belongs to the Catalan government (Generalitat) and that a uniform national cap would constrain Catalonia's own housing legislation. This argument mirrors the PNV's position and frustrates PSOE's ability to pass emergency housing measures in high-pressure urban markets including Barcelona.

Junts's defection on housing votes is a recurring pattern: the party supported the original Ley 12/2023 but has been less consistent on implementing measures. For Junts, housing policy is leverage rather than a primary platform commitment.

By July 2026 the same leverage was back on display. Junts's seven-seat bloc is demanding IRPF landlord tax deductions as its price for the 176-vote majority the government's housing decree needs. When Podemos secretary-general Ione Belarra refused the concession on 8 July, the decree stalled, the identical trade that sank the April rent-freeze extension. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has since pushed the decree's target to end-August.