“We are closely monitoring the situation, as expected,” stated Miguel Pinto Luz, referring to the demolition of precarious houses in the municipalities of Loures and Amadora.
“The concern is significant, but it is not enough just to be concerned,” admitted the minister in Vila de Rei, in the district of Castelo Branco, where he visited construction projects aimed at affordable housing, funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
Emphasizing the necessity to “act,” the minister affirmed that “this is what the Government has been doing, with public policies precisely targeting these problems.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the visit to Rádio Condestável, Miguel Pinto Luz acknowledged that “those solving the housing problem [in the country] are the mayors,” not the current or previous governments.
Despite it being “a duty that falls to the Central Government,” it was the mayors who “stood up,” both in their applications to the PRR and in the implementation of the 1st Right – Support Program for Access to Housing.
The minister also expressed satisfaction with Portugal “for the first time” meeting deadlines and budgets, adding that the Government is “working diligently so that by September/October this year,” measures can be introduced in response to the conclusions of a study by the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU), which indicates that 250,000 houses are off the market for sale or rent.
The municipality of Loures began on Monday an operation to demolish 64 precarious homes built by the residents themselves in Talude Militar, where 161 people live.
In Amadora, some illegal constructions in the former Bairro de Santa Filomena were also demolished.
