The first day of campaigning for the municipal elections scheduled for October 12 commenced on Tuesday, with the focus primarily on the housing crisis. PSD leader Luís Montenegro emphasized the “resurgence of shantytowns and makeshift huts” in “municipalities governed by the Socialist Party and the Communist Party.” The parties promptly responded to these allegations.
The remarks by the prime minister came during a luncheon with all the mayors of the Lisbon district, attended by all except independents Isaltino Morais (Oeiras) and Sérgio Galvão (Torres Vedras).
“These candidatures we have here are not those who stand idly by observing the revival of shantytown clusters. There is no problem in using the words for what they are: huts, shantytowns,” stated Luís Montenegro.
“They have gradually reappeared, here and there, on this shore and that opposite side, mainly – it must also be said – in municipalities governed by the Socialist and Communist Parties. It is very curious to observe that this new movement of shantytown resurgence has occurred in municipalities managed by the Socialist and Communist Parties,” he accused.
The PSD leader stated today that huts and shantytowns have mainly reappeared in socialist and communist municipalities, arguing that social-democratic mayors “do not stand by” watching this issue.
Lusa | 15:06 – 30/09/2025
PS accuses Montenegro of “great inhumanity” (and raises a question)
Responding to these remarks, PS Secretary-General José Luís Carneiro accused the prime minister of “great inhumanity” and questioned whether he knows that these are mainly emerging on state-owned land.
“I perceived it as a statement, as is often the case, of great inhumanity because Dr. Luís Montenegro should know that people who left Lisbon, many due to lack of housing response, due to lack of living conditions, have increased the number of homeless individuals, and many sought answers with much indignity in the outskirts of Lisbon,” José Luís Carneiro replied to journalists at the end of the first campaign event of the day in Faro.
In the PS Secretary-General’s view, this situation should “challenge the country’s prime minister to respond to citizens about what is being done to address housing.”
“Now, I would like to ask a question that I wish Dr. Luís Montenegro could answer: Does Dr. Luís Montenegro, by chance, realize that many of the huts are emerging on state and Housing Institute land?” he questioned.
According to Carneiro, if the prime minister is unaware of this situation, “he should visit and inquire” what the Ministry of Infrastructure is “doing to address a grave social issue.”
The PS leader accused the prime minister today of “great inhumanity” in his remarks about the resurgence of huts in socialist and communist municipalities, questioning whether he knows that these are mainly emerging on state-owned land.
Lusa | 18:15 – 30/09/2025
“The prime minister lives in a bubble. Every shot hits the mark”
Meanwhile, PCP Secretary-General Paulo Raimundo considered that Montenegro “lives in a bubble” and recalled that Almada has “two thousand degraded dwellings” on government land.
“The prime minister lives in a bubble. It pains me to say this, but every shot hits the mark,” Paulo Raimundo began saying, in a statement to journalists in Porto, after being asked about Luís Montenegro’s comments.
“There are two thousand huts, two thousand degraded dwellings, on IHRU (Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation) territory, in this case, in Almada,” and the IHRU is a direct responsibility of the government,” he added.
Paulo Raimundo also emphasized that “if there is a municipality where, unfortunately, the number of people living in undignified conditions is identified, it is in Lisbon,” where “11,500 households live in undignified conditions.”
Paulo Raimundo recalled that Almada has “two thousand degraded dwellings” on IHRU territory, which “is a direct government responsibility,” after Montenegro claimed that there are “more huts” in PCP and PS municipalities.
Márcia Guímaro Rodrigues | 18:49 – 30/09/2025
[Updated at 19:24]
Leia Também: More huts in PCP and PS municipalities? “Prime minister lives in a bubble”
