The Ombudsman has issued a formal request to the Secretary of State for Housing, urging the urgent review of the extraordinary rent support following a “significant volume of complaints” indicating serious irregularities, it was announced today.
“Given the severity of these irregularities and the continuation of the scheme until 2028, the Ombudsman argues for an urgent review of the extraordinary rent support to ensure a fairer, more transparent, efficient, and accountable system, also guaranteeing better use of public resources,” the entity declared, announcing it had sent a formal communication to the Secretary of State for Housing, Patrícia Machado Santos.
Significant Increase in Complaints
This year, the Ombudsman recorded a significant increase in complaints regarding the suspension and reduction of support, and between May 2023 and July 2025, received around a thousand requests related to this rent support scheme.
The Ombudsman concluded that the legal framework was designed without considering the fundamental rights and guarantees of the citizens and noted insufficient coordination and response capacity from the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute (IHRU), the Tax and Customs Authority (AT), and the Social Security Institute (ISS).
“Rights” Have Been Disregarded
The entity also found that “fully enshrined rights, such as the citizens’ right to information, notification of decisions, grounding of administrative acts, and prior hearing of interested parties,” have been disregarded, and that “citizens covered by this support — announced as automatic — have been repeatedly referred from service to service, unable to obtain the information they seek.”
Additionally, it pointed out that the IT platforms in use “are fragile and inadequate for their function, contributing to severe delays and information difficulties.”
The complaints received this year also reveal the “extreme delay” until the support payment begins, and once it starts being paid, it is only in a singular monthly amount, “with no clarity on when the due retroactive amounts will be paid.”
“In numerous situations, citizens claim that their social and economic situation has worsened due to state failures, expressing a deep mistrust in a legal solution meant to support them,” the Ombudsman noted.
Some of the “systemic failures” in this support had already been highlighted in the last two annual reports submitted to the Parliament, the Ombudsman recalled.
