Lisbon’s housing crisis: over 23,000 on the waiting list
Amidst the housing debate in Portugal with the strategic Government's 'More Housing' package which is under public consultation, it is a well known fact that the State owns vast a number of vacant properties. At the same time, there are more than 23,000 people (23,385) in 11 municipalities in Greater Lisbon waiting to be housed.
According to a Portuguese daily, it is in the municipality of Lisbon that the most people are waiting for housing, with 9,700 individuals / families applicants registered on the waiting list. Portugal’s richest municipalities of Sintra, Cascais and Oeiras follow close on the heels with 3,000, 2,794 and 2,700 applicants, respectively. Also in Loures and the district of Setúbal there are more than a thousand applicants on the waiting list.
Right from the industrial city of Porto in northwest Portugal known for its stately bridges and port wine production to the tourist hub of Algarve, there are hundreds of derelict estates owned by the State and the Catholic Church which have been unused or ‘taken over’ by squatters. For instance Portimão’s iconic São Francisco convent, which has been abandoned for years served as refuge for homeless people before it was boarded up by its owners.
The municipality of Lisbon itself accounts for nearly 10,000 applicants on the city’s housing waiting list.
Correio da Manhã’s report suggests that the housing shortage will be partly solved by the 85 applications, worth 300 million euros, to housing programs supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), from the different municipalities. The problem is that most of these projects have yet to get off the ground, and in January this year, only 40 applications were approved.
It should be noted that the country experienced an acute housing crisis since the onset of the global financial crisis. Overall, homelessness in Portugal seems to have remained constant for nearly two decades, linked to the absence of evident and significant efforts to end homelessness during most of this period.
The shifting nature of the discourse around the housing crisis currently is significant from this perspective, as combined with the mixed success of different approaches previously. Albeit ‘More Housing’ package promises to herald a real possibility of change, despite the discussion generating a strong wave of controversy and contestation, it waits to be seen whether ‘More Housing’ delivers more housing in reality or whether this socialist rhetoric will turn that dream on its head for the Portuguese.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are based on industry reports and related news stories and are for informational purposes only . SSIL does not guarantee the accuracy, legality, completeness, reliability of the information and or for that of subsequent links and shall not be held responsible for any action taken based on the published information.