The “Porta-a-Porta” movement has organized a protest today outside the IHRU offices, scheduled from 07:30 to 09:30, to demand a responsive service to rent support requests. They plan to send letters to the Secretary of State for Housing and the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, as stated by spokesman André Escoval.
“Problems span from the north to the south of the country, with cuts in rent support and the ‘Porta65’ program. Only 10 tickets are available in the morning and 10 in the afternoon for in-person service in Lisbon and Porto. It’s impossible through the Internet or phone,” lamented André Escoval.
The housing rights movement has criticized the IHRU’s lack of response, citing delays of “more than a year,” which have driven “many families to despair nationwide.”
Porta-a-Porta highlights that communication channels with IHRU (telephone and internet) “are inaccessible.”
To address “a national problem,” people are forced to go directly to IHRU service centers that only exist in Lisbon and Porto, according to Porta-a-Porta.
The president of IHRU acknowledged the shortcomings in response. In a statement on October 14, following a hearing in the Assembly of the Republic, António Benjamim Costa Pereira admitted the situation is “extremely serious,” particularly regarding delays affecting nearly 60,000 beneficiaries of the Extraordinary Rent Support Program (PAER) with unresolved cases.
Updated at 09:03.
