More than 129,600 tenants will receive the payment of extraordinary rent support, with retroactive payments dating back to January, while 58,659 will have their payments suspended due to inconsistencies, the Government told Lusa.
“According to the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute (IHRU), the data for the 2025 assessment indicates that in September, support will be paid to 129,642 tenants, with retroactive payments dating back to January,” the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing confirmed in a written response to Lusa.
The number of tenants experiencing inconsistencies, resulting in suspended payments, amounts to 58,659. These beneficiaries will be notified and must rectify their situation on the Citizen Consultation Portal available on the IHRU website.
The Ombudsman has highlighted serious irregularities in the extraordinary rent payment support, urging the Secretary of State for Housing for an urgent review of the system.
Lusa | 11:26 – 26/08/2025
On Tuesday, the Ombudsman announced that a formal request had been sent to the Secretary of State for Housing, calling for an urgent review of the extraordinary rent payment support following the reception of a “significant volume of complaints” indicating serious irregularities.
In response to inquiries by Lusa, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing emphasized that “the Extraordinary Rent Support Program (PAER), created in 2023 by the previous Government, was poorly designed, involving data integration from five different entities (IHRU, Tax Authority, Social Security, Caixa Geral de Aposentações, and Foundation for Science and Technology), without ensuring interoperability.”
The Government has announced plans for a revised program “soon” to ensure its effective operation.
This year, a significant increase in complaints regarding the suspension and reduction of support has been recorded by the Ombudsman. Between May 2023 and July 2025, around a thousand requests related to this rent support regime were received.
The Ombudsman concluded that the legal framework was designed without regard for the rights and guarantees fundamental to the administered persons, highlighting insufficient coordination and response capabilities from the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute (IHRU), the Tax Authority, and the Social Security Institute (ISS).
It was also observed that “fully established rights, such as the right to information, notification of decisions, the rationale of administrative acts, and the preliminary hearing of interested parties” have been disregarded. The citizens covered by this support—announced as automatic—have been repeatedly redirected from service to service, unable to obtain the information sought.
Moreover, the ombudsman pointed out that the current computer platforms are “fragile and inadequate for their function, contributing to severe delays and information difficulties.”
Complaints this year further reveal the “extreme slowness” until the support payment begins, receiving just a single monthly amount once initiated, “with no clarity on when the due retroactive payments will follow.”
“In numerous instances, citizens claim that their social and economic circumstances have worsened due to government failures, expressing profound disbelief in a legal solution intended to support them,” remarked the Ombudsman.
Some of the “systemic failures” in this support had already been noted in the last two annual reports submitted to the Assembly of the Republic, the Ombudsman emphasized.
