The City Council of Lisbon, led by the PSD/CDS-PP/IL coalition, has approved a proposal on local accommodation regulation. Housing and Urbanism Councilor Vasco Moreira Rato stated that the legislation aims to protect Lisbon’s interests with concrete measures to enhance housing function protection, ensure balanced urban development, and facilitate more effective local accommodation management.
Moreira Rato announced in a written statement that the ratios between local accommodation and permanent housing have become more stringent than those set by the 2019 regulation, despite the final proposal doubling the ratios compared to the initial public consultation draft.
“We considered all inputs from public consultation, as well as those from political parties and municipal executives,” Moreira Rato added, expressing satisfaction with a solution based on urban development that prioritizes quality of life, territory protection, and respects a crucial economic sector like local accommodation.
The revision proposal was open for public comment in March and April of the previous term (2021-2025) and initially presented with a 20% to 5% reduction in absolute containment areas and from 10% to 2.5% in relative containment areas. However, PSD/CDS-PP/IL pushed forward with a different proposal after securing support from Chega, amidst opposition from PS, Livre, BE, and PCP. This new proposal aims to create a unique municipal absolute containment area whenever local accommodation ratios reach or exceed 10%.
Scheduled for a forthcoming Municipal Assembly session, the proposal is expected to be approved, given the majority status of PSD/CDS-PP/IL and Chega in this body, similar to their position in the council.
PS Councilor Alexandra Leitão criticized the PSD/CDS-PP/IL proposal as a setback from the previous administration’s consensus-driven project, arguing it allows new local accommodation registrations, unlike the earlier 5% containment ratio version which the city’s rate currently stands at 7.2%.
Leitão accused the re-elected mayor Carlos Moedas of intentionally delaying the regulation’s approval until after municipal elections, alleging a concealment of real intentions regarding local accommodation policies from Lisbon’s residents.
“The real losers are Lisbon’s residents, particularly those intending to live there but cannot,” Leitão stressed, acknowledging the housing crisis is not solely caused by the local accommodation sector but it plays a significant role in reducing permanent housing availability and increasing prices.
PCP Councilor João Ferreira argued that the PSD/CDS-PP/IL proposal marks “significant and negative changes” from the publicly consulted project, towards a more permissive ordinance, conflicting with previous municipal stances, such as the City Housing Charter’s call for stricter local accommodation limits.
The PCP managed to pass an amendment allowing for possible registration suspensions up to five years upon local accommodation requests, preventing circumvention of established containment ratios by any establishments looking to return to operation.
Livre also viewed the PSD/CDS-PP/IL proposal as a “severe regression” and an “electoral promise breach” by Carlos Moedas, opposing the public consultation project with a disproportionately high local accommodation ratio.
Ricardo Moreira, stepping in for BE’s Carolina Serrão, noted that each new license, which is now permanent, represents another lost housing unit, potentially triggering a local accommodation boom under Moedas’ patronage with Chega.
Chega’s Bruno Mascarenhas stated that while local accommodation regulation was necessary, the new ratios represent a reasonable balance for Lisbon, highlighting improved oversight as a critical feature and accusing left-wing parties of ideological bias.
“Licenses for accommodations inactive for over a year without civil responsibility insurance will naturally be canceled,” Mascarenhas noted, with approximately 7,000 licenses eligible for revocation, potentially halving local accommodation operations in the city.
Close to Carlos Moedas’ office, there is confirmation that around 7,000 local accommodation licenses from a total of 18,600 are being canceled for lacking mandatory liability insurance.
