The Mayor of Funchal (PSD/CDS-PP), Pedro Calado, said today that it is not necessary to suspend local accommodation in the municipality, noting that the sector has contributed to the recovery of real estate.
“Today, in the municipality, there are 2,275 local accommodation licenses, this in a universe of more than 40 thousand permanent dwellings for residence, which means that the overall ratio of the municipality is between 4.7% and 5%,” he said at the end of the weekly executive meeting.
Pedro Calado said there was a predominance of local accommodation in downtown Funchal, especially in the parish of Sé, stressing that “it was thanks to local accommodation that urban rehabilitation advanced, allowing the recovery of properties, which is bringing more people to the center”.
In his view, in this sector there is still “room for maneuver to maintain the activity”, which is being monitored regularly, “not yet the time for suspensions, not least because the Câmara do Funchal wants to make the patrimonial recovery of vacant or degraded buildings”.
On other topics addressed at this meeting, the mayor stressed that the municipality is preparing a regulation to prevent the abusive occupation of public spaces, helping to remove homeless people from the streets.
The Municipal Strategy for Homeless People, he added, identified that, as far as these people are concerned, the big problem is not economic deprivation, but drug use, especially synthetic drugs.
Pedro Calado recognized that drug use has “increased both in Madeira and in the Azores”, and the municipality “has long put its finger on the wound and alerted to this problem”, as well as to the need for institutional collaboration between all entities in order to resolve the situation.
The mayor welcomed the recent inauguration in Funchal of the Judicial Police laboratory for the analysis of synthetic substances, which will allow their identification in a shorter period and improve police action.
As part of the fight against drug use, the municipality has already closed several streets and vacant buildings, created a solidarity house and has promoted awareness in schools, among other measures.
The president of Madeira’s main municipality defended the need for “legislative work” in the regional and national parliaments to “allow a greater and better response to this problem”.
“I also don’t like to see people sleeping on the street in front of a church, a commercial establishment or a hotel,” he said, stressing that action on the ground is needed to solve the problem.
Pedro Calado also announced that the construction of 33 new housing units in the area of Nazaré, in the parish of São Martinho, in a contract worth around 4.2 million euros (around 500 thousand euros below the base value), will begin in the last quarter of this year.
Another decision taken today was the approval of contracts for the provision of cleaning services in all municipal buildings, involving two companies, worth 1.4 million.
The municipality also approved the continuation of support for higher education students, with the allocation of two million euros, of which 1.5 million have already been paid.
“We will continue to strengthen social support,” he said.
The Funchal City Council decided to give time off on the afternoon of July 27 and July 28, because of the Madeira Wine Rally. The Regional Government decided today to give a period of grace in the same period.
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