“The Government has adopted demand-side policies, leading to housing prices in Portugal rising more than in most European countries for the second consecutive quarter,” remarked during the signing of the Metropolitan Area of Porto Commitment, taking place in Trofa, Porto district.
The socialist emphasized that Portugal remains one of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries where housing costs have increased the most.
“Furthermore, housing costs in our country have skyrocketed, spiraling upwards, as I demonstrated to the prime minister in parliament yesterday,” he reiterated.
In his view, before pushing forward new measures in this area, Luís Montenegro’s Government should have the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) respond to local officials and authorities.
“The IHRU has not responded for about 10 months to the municipalities and mayors who want to know how to implement local housing strategies,” he highlighted.
Moreover, he continued, the Government needs to focus on funding local housing strategies which are underfunded relative to municipal needs and addressing emergency housing needs, particularly using modular constructions.
“Then, the Portuguese State must advance a new industrial policy focused on housing, creating a cluster in this area to ensure responses to the country and to make this sector a sector of knowledge export, expertise, practice, and execution,” he proposed.
The PS secretary-general underscored that “the 10,000 houses delivered by the Government” are properties from the PS administrations and mostly not new houses; they have been repaired, refurbished, and painted.
“Therefore, the Government has not yet invested in any houses that have been its own responsibility,” he noted.
José Luís Carneiro recalled that it was the PS in Government that secured European financing mechanisms to support housing, with a Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), establishing local housing strategies with Portuguese municipalities.
