Economic and social activist Rita Silva, a signatory of the letter “Stop Evictions and Address the Housing Crisis,” emphasized that the government cannot keep ignoring the situation by shifting responsibility onto local councils. She calls for a national emergency program to address what she describes as a housing “catastrophe.”
“The government needs to implement an emergency program to tackle this as if it were a natural disaster,” Silva stated, highlighting the political roots of the crisis.
She drew comparisons to natural calamities: “If there were an earthquake or a flood, measures would be implemented to temporarily house people until solutions were found.”
Silva insists that the government must devise an emergency response for this crisis. The open letter by Vida Justa critiques the government for remaining silent despite having ministers and secretaries of state with housing responsibilities.
The proliferation of administrative evictions without adequate social responses has not sparked any central government action, with criticism directed toward the current PSD/CDS-PP government for remaining passive and shifting accountability to municipal bodies.
Vida Justa asserts that the central government holds the principal responsibility for housing issues.
The existing “Porta de Entrada” program, intended for urgent housing needs, is deemed insufficient by Silva. Official data from the Instituto da Habitação e da Reabilitação Urbana (IHRU) shows that as of April 10, less than half of Portuguese municipalities have sought program support.
“Houses can be demolished repeatedly, but people won’t just disappear,” said Silva. “Even if they’re in tents now, they won’t vanish from places where evictions are happening.”
The open letter accuses municipalities Loures, Amadora, and Odivelas of collaborating to demolish precarious structures, with these actions attributed to the Socialist Party leadership in these districts within Lisbon.
“In recent days, these municipalities have conducted violent evictions. Instead of receiving support, families are being expelled with brutality, lacking any social or housing referral,” the movement stated, noting that Loures and Amadora ignored court rulings that suspended demolitions.
Municipal deadlines for vacating homes, typically 48 hours, as recently seen in Bairro do Talude Militar, are termed “intolerable” for failing to allow families to contest decisions, breaching several legal tenets, particularly the Housing Framework Law, the movement argued, demanding “immediate suspension of evictions.”
Following the demolitions on Monday in Amadora and Loures, where 51 houses were dismantled, Infrastructure and Housing Minister Miguel Pinto Luz remarked that the Government was closely monitoring the situation.
“Concern is significant, but concern alone isn’t enough,” he acknowledged, stressing the need for action through public policies addressing these issues.
Though he admitted that “local leaders” have been resolving the housing problem rather than the government itself, he applauded their presence both in bids for the Recovery and Resilience Plan and in executing the 1st Right – Housing Access Support Program initiative.
