“The municipality is monitoring the situation, ensuring that families evicted by the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute (IHRU) can, if they wish, access emergency housing,” stated the municipality in a written response.
A family consisting of two adults and five children was evicted today in Bairro da Urmeira, Odivelas, Lisbon district, the Vida Justa movement announced, noting the household did not have a housing solution yet.
This was the third family to be evicted this week in the area.
On Tuesday, two families were evicted from homes they occupied illegally, totaling eight individuals, including five children.
In the response, the Odivelas City Council stated, “Efforts are being made, in coordination with the families involved, to identify a housing solution suitable for the needs of each household.”
According to Carlos Kangoma from Vida Justa, none of the families evicted this week have housing solutions.
“They are in exactly the same conditions. They have no alternative. Locks have been changed, and now we are looking into the possibility of them staying with some relatives, but everything is still very uncertain,” said the activist this morning, noting that the resident evicted today went to the Odivelas City Hall to seek a solution, “but was refused care and returned to the neighborhood.”
In a written response on Tuesday, the IHRU stated that “all situations in question involve illegal occupations,” constituting “the crime of intrusion into a public restricted area, besides infringing property rights.”
The institute further explained that “all occupants were (…) notified, as provided by law,” of the court decision to return the dwellings to the IHRU.
The IHRU also informed that it requested “the intervention of competent welfare entities to provide all necessary support” to the occupants of the residences or the households involved.
