In Santiago de Compostela a tent protest has been taking place since 1 October 2026 at Praza do Obradoiro . The groups involved are calling for better access to affordable housing and point to rising rents and long waiting lists for Social housing in Galicia. Demonstrations in several cities joined the protest on 3 October, bringing the regional housing market back into focus.
The immediate trigger for the escalation was an event held by the Xunta de Galicia in Santiago on 29 September: the regional government handed 24 publicly funded homes to selected households. Opposition representatives, including BNG and PSdeG, criticised the event as a PR exercise and said the number of units was wholly inadequate. Housing campaigners argue that the small-scale handover illustrates the gap between political announcements and the actual availability of social housing.
The Xunta rejects the accusations and points to ongoing programmes and investment. According to the government, around 350 million euros is available for housing policy this year. In addition, the Sociedad Pública de Vivenda has created a new structure that has put projects for nearly 2,500 additional public homes out to tender. The government sees this as a sustainable expansion programme that will have an impact in the coming years.
The protesters and opposition parties, by contrast, are calling for short-term action. Their demands include stronger protection against displacement, procedures to bring vacant housing stock into use quickly, and a measurable timetable for additional social housing. Several groups point to persistently high demand on waiting lists and are pressing for transparent criteria, binding interim targets and regular public reports.
What is established as fact: the tent protest at the Obradoiro began on 1 October and is ongoing; the 24 homes were handed over in Santiago on 29 September. It remains disputed whether the programmes presented by the Xunta will bring noticeable relief in the short term. Open questions concern the pace, scale and social targeting of the measures. The continuing rallies are increasing pressure on the regional government to demonstrate concrete progress this autumn. It remains unclear whether this will be enough to bring the mobilisation to an end.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).