The Spanish government said that it would invest €2.4 billion over the next three years to help the poor gain access to rental housing and renovate buildings to boost the stricken construction sector.

The plan, worth about $3.1 billion, aims to "guarantee access to decent housing to resolve the situation of people in difficulty" who cannot rent homes or apartments or who are having trouble managing real-estate debts, public works minister Ana Pastor said following a cabinet meeting.

By contributing to building renovations, the government also hopes to "contribute to the reconversion and reactivation of the construction sector, which as you know, needs it," she added.

Spain, the fourth biggest eurozone economy, fell into crisis after a real-estate bubble burst in 2008, and since then, officials have carried out 252,826 expulsion orders, 61 percent of all issued so far, according to a national judiciary council.