Joana had a lot of difficulty looking for a house and says she looked in several municipalities on the South Bank, such as Barreiro, Seixal, Almada, Montijo and Alcochete. The cheapest house she found in more than four months of searching was for 750 euros/month. But “it wasn’t really a house, it was more like a duplex with access to the first floor. The stairs were very dangerous, spiraling. And my daughter immediately said: ‘You’re not coming here alone’. I’m not young either, I’m 65 years old and to go down I had to do it backwards, it was horrible. The house was in no condition at all, my bed didn’t fit in that little space that was the bedroom”, she recalls.
One of the priorities of Luís Montenegro’s new government is precisely to combat the housing crisis. To this end, in May, the government presented the plan “Building Portugal: New Housing Strategy” which aims to “provide an urgent response to the difficulties in purchasing or renting a home”. Some of the measures include exemption from IMT and Stamp Duty for young people; the release of 25,000 homes that are part of the RRP; incentives for renting and the creation of more than 18,000 beds for students.
The increase in house prices is dramatic in many cases, especially in large cities. According to the INEin the first quarter of this year, the average income continued to increase (compared to the same period last year) in the 24 municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants. Guimarães is the municipality that stands out, with an increase of 19.5%, followed by Vila Nova de Famalicão with 18.3% and Coimbra with 15.2%.
On the other hand, the number of new housing contracts fell, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, in 13 of the 24 municipalities, notably Funchal (-11.5%), Oeiras (-11.4%) and Seixal (-10.9%).
“I feel like I belong in my neighborhood”
Rosa Santos, 60, has always lived in the Castelo area of Lisbon and says that there are currently no grocery stores or bakeries in the area because “everything is designed for tourists”.
The Lisbon resident closely follows the serious housing problem and guarantees that, where she lives, many houses are Local Accommodation (AL) and there are “Council houses that have already been restored and are not inhabited”.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
