The ‘Greater Lisbon Summit,’ organized by SIC Notícias to discuss issues concerning housing, security, and transportation, brought together five mayors (from Almada, Lisbon, Loures, Oeiras, and Sintra) and the vice-president of the Cascais municipality.
Carlos Moedas, the mayor of Lisbon, began with “words of solidarity” for the municipal leaders, lamenting, “It seems we are the bad guys.”
However, he was not alone, finding support from Almada’s socialist mayor: “I understand well what Ricardo Leão [mayor of Loures] is talking about,” said Inês de Medeiros, after listening to her colleague, who is also a socialist.
“All of us here have already demolished shacks; we need to be honest,” she added.
In Almada, precarious housing has been growing on state-owned land, in the neighborhoods of Penajoia and Raposo, noted Inês de Medeiros, highlighting the “inactivity and complete absence of the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU).”
Earlier, during the opening speech, the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, acknowledged the issue, which led Almada’s municipal council to unanimously adopt a motion today.
“We need to stop this bleeding, and building alone won’t suffice; it takes five, six, seven years,” stressed Inês de Medeiros, emphasizing that “it is completely impossible for the municipality to guarantee rehousing for all these people.”
To halt was a verb shared among municipal leaders from different political backgrounds, who mostly agreed on calling upon the central government to help solve the problem.
“An emergency housing plan is urgently needed,” involving the state, municipalities, and private entities, argued Basílio Horta, preferring to speak as the president of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, as he will not seek re-election in Sintra, where he was elected by the Socialist Party (PS).
“This is the most serious political issue Portugal has faced since April 25. If it continues at this pace, we could face situations that offend the democratic regime itself,” he stated, reminding, “Shacks don’t disappear just because we want them to.”
Recognizing “the effort” made by the municipalities, Basílio Horta anticipates “an extremely difficult situation,” making “a coordinated policy that is not based on flashes and unilateral decisions very urgent.”
For instance, the land use law needs to change, as “there are lands that could be built on but are not, due to negligence or bad faith,” he mentioned.
Isaltino Morais, the mayor of Oeiras, has reiterated the same, reminding that since 2014, he has been alerting to the risk of the reappearance of shacks in the Lisbon area.
In addition to altering the land law, the problem “is solved with more public housing,” he believes, asserting that, firstly, “the municipal councils must take responsibility.”
Carlos Moedas agreed that it’s necessary “to free up land for construction,” but he criticized both the current and former governments for stating that “the money [from the PRR European funds] is not reaching the municipalities.”
Cascais was represented by Vice-President Nuno Piteira Lopes, who argued that the problem “can only be solved by building more housing,” adding that new public housing in the municipality will start being delivered “from the last quarter” onwards.
