In a recent analysis of public accounts for the year 2024, Portugal’s Unit for Technical Budget Support (UTAO) has highlighted a significant lack of transparency regarding the execution of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) at the local administration level. The report underscores the restricted access to information, noting that even the National Institute of Statistics (INE) only receives data on transfers made from the Central Administration to Local Administration.
UTAO criticizes the inadequacy of information available about the local administration sector, describing it as a barrier to determining the economic nature of final expenditures. This sector is noted as the second most essential in implementing the PRR, especially in terms of its housing component. “This method of ascertainment does not allow for determining the final nature of the expenditure and complicates the information consolidation and future evaluation of the PRR’s effects,” the analysis emphasizes.
In its 2024 estimates, UTAO takes a “very conservative approach,” predicting the spending designated for the execution of the PRR’s housing component reached 443 million euros, which accounts for approximately 23% of the plan’s capital expenditure. Nevertheless, the report warns that information regarding the implementation of the PRR’s housing component is “very scattered in budget execution.” Consequently, this estimate was indirectly derived from the expenditure of management entities, both in building and capital transfers, directed towards local administrations, higher education institutions, and institutional sectors like families and businesses.
The report criticizes the inability to determine the individual impact of each measure, advocating for more detailed disclosure regarding the PRR’s housing component to enable assessment of the impact of each measure.
In 2024, local administrations benefited from 447 million euros in investment aid for executing the PRR’s housing component, the report details, although this information is not evident in available data. The report specifies that the portions of this amount intended to support low-income families for housing rehabilitation under the “1.º Direito” program should be highlighted as investment aid in public administration accounts. In contrast, amounts aimed at increasing public housing availability should be recorded as Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF).
The housing component of the PRR encompasses both private and public segments. The private segment supports low-income families in rehabilitating inadequate housing through housing access assistance programs. In the public domain, the PRR plans to boost public housing supply by constructing an Affordable Housing Public Park, establishing a National Urgent and Temporary Accommodation Stock, and expanding affordable student housing, among other initiatives.
UTAO outlines that while the component is primarily managed by the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU), local administrations play a vital role in its implementation. They assess local needs reflected in the Local Housing Strategy (ELH) and act as the final expenditure executors.
Moreover, the expansion of student housing is administrated by Erasmus+ and operationalized through the National Accommodation Plan for Higher Education (PNAES), leveraging partnerships with higher education institutions and local administrations.
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