Tuesday, April 28, we have a lot at stake as a society. On this day, Congress will decide whether to approve the extension of rental contracts, a measure that could prevent nearly 475,000 tenants in Catalonia, and more than 3 million across the State, with contracts expiring soon, from being forced to leave their homes in the coming months.
If the extension is approved, they will be able to continue in their homes for two more years, with a 2% rent update. It may seem like a small measure in the face of a giant problem, but it is a fundamental decision: it offers time, stability, and room to sustain daily life. It means being able to stay in the same neighborhood, keep children in the same school, and not abruptly break with everything that gives meaning to a home.
Because what is at stake are not just contracts. It is something much deeper. When we talk about housing, we talk about lives and the model of society we are building. Housing is the gateway to basic rights such as health, safety, privacy, and social cohesion. When this access becomes unstable, it's not just an address that changes: overall well-being suffers.
The so-called "invisible evictions" explain this reality well. They don't make noise. There is no court order or eviction with police presence. But they are there. They are families who are forced to leave because their contract is not renewed, or they cannot afford a rent increase. Without headlines, without focus, but with profound consequences. For many of them, sharing housing will cease to be a choice and become the only option, even among working adults.
In the last year alone, more than 29% of the renting population in Catalonia had to move for economic reasons. In Spain, one in three people has experienced a similar situation, with a particularly harsh impact on young people and migrant populations.
And what may come is even more worrying. If the extension is not approved, nearly a million households could be forced to move in the short term. This is not a distant threat: it is the continuation, on a larger scale, of what is already happening.
None of this is by chance. Housing, and in particular rent, has become one of the main drivers of inequality. Between April 2021 and March 2026, the price of rent in Catalonia has increased by 36%, while household incomes have only increased by 28%. In Spain as a whole, the gap is even larger: 52% versus 23%. The market moves faster than people's lives.
This difference translates into decisions that wear down and condition daily life. An apartment that cost 800 euros in 2021 can now be around 1,200. It's not just a figure: it's having to move away from work, reduce space, share when you don't want to or can't, change neighborhood, school, routines. It's the constant extra effort to sustain something as basic as a home, until it stops being a safe place and becomes a permanent source of uncertainty. The housing market expels thousands of people and fragments the city, increasingly separating those who can stay and those who have to leave.
In this context, the extension of rental contracts is not the definitive solution. But it is an indispensable brake. It allows containing the immediate impact, avoiding mass evictions, and gaining time to implement in-depth measures.
There are signs pointing in this direction. The recent State Housing Plan opens a real opportunity to move towards fairer and more dignified access. It incorporates necessary measures and points towards a change of course, although it still has room for improvement.
The housing crisis will not be solved by just building more. We must also act on market dynamics: curb speculation, prevent excessive accumulation, and move towards fairer taxation that guarantees access to housing as a right, not a privilege.
Its impact will depend on a fundamental factor: the real will to apply it. In Catalonia, coordination between the central administration, the Generalitat, and the municipalities will be key to its implementation.
While structural solutions must advance, there are decisions that cannot wait. The extension of rents is one of them, and today it is essential. Behind every contract that expires are homes that need stability to continue with their lives. Guaranteeing access to decent housing is not an option, but a responsibility that defines what kind of society we want to be: one that protects or one that excludes and disregards the distress experienced by thousands of households.
