The Regional Government of Madeira plans to start allocating the first homes under the Reduced Rent Program at the end of the first semester, indicating that 600 applications have been validated, and should open a new registration period later this year.
The first phase of applications took place between August 1 and October 15, 2023, and so far around six hundred have been validated, “with others still awaiting the requested documentation to complete their registration”, says the Regional Secretariat for Equipment and Infrastructure, in a written response to the Lusa news agency.
The government said that the “next phases of registration are dependent on the progress of the construction of the developments”, and that the public company IHM – Investimentos Habitacionais da Madeira expects to open a new registration period this year.
In May last year, Pedro Fino, who is responsible for infrastructure, said that the first affordable homes, out of a total of 600 under construction, would be ready by the end of the year.
In the information now sent to Lusa, the government states that the first homes will only be completed “at the end of this first semester and will be concentrated in the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos, Funchal and Machico”.
By the end of the year, the Madeiran executive (PSD/CDS-PP), which is stepping down, expects around 600 homes to be completed for allocation to registered families, but does not guarantee that they will all be allocated by December.
When applications were opened around eight months ago, the program was called Renda Acessível (Affordable Rent). However, it still has the objective of directly renting out homes to families and young people who have difficulty accessing housing.
In the meantime, the initiative has been replaced by the Reduced Rent Program, approved by the Madeiran parliament on March 19 and published in the Diário da República last week, on April 3.
The Regional Secretariat for Infrastructure explains that the change in nomenclature was made “at the suggestion of the Recovering Portugal Mission Structure (EMRP), the entity responsible for managing the PRR [Recovery and Resilience Program], due to the existence of a program at national level (Affordable Rent) with a similar name”.
“Even if the framework is different, it could be misleading,” he adds.
The first phase of applications is intended for “all the housing being built under the PRR, but also for the dwellings that will be built by IHM, through the region’s budget”.
By 2026, 805 homes are to be built. Under the RRP, there will be 619 dwellings distributed throughout the municipalities of Funchal (192), Câmara de Lobos (177), Machico (36), Santa Cruz (84), Santana (20), São Vicente (18), Calheta (26), Ponta do Sol (30), Porto Moniz (six) and Porto Santo (30).
The program aims to provide “public housing with more affordable rents, compared to market rents, and the maximum amount will not exceed 35% of the household’s income,” says the government.
Priority will be given to “needy households in the labor market earning low incomes; young households starting their working lives; households with minors or dependent children; households with disabled members; households in which at least one of the members is a victim of domestic violence”.
Households with permanent residence in the Autonomous Region of Madeira who “do not have the economic and financial means to rent a home by their own means” and who earn a gross annual income of between 10,200 and 59,500 euros are eligible to apply for the Reduced Rent Program.
