2023-08-21 18:11:27
The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has vetoed the housing plan promoted by the absolute socialist majority, which included measures such as the forced rental of unoccupied houses or limitations on tourist apartments.
Portugal passes responsibility for controversial measures to address the housing crisis to municipalities
Further
In a letter sent to Parliament and released this Monday by the Portuguese Presidency, Rebelo de Sousa has argued that “in simple terms, it is not easy to see where the promised house offer for housing will come from with efficiency and speed.”
“Neither in forced rent, nor in local accommodation, nor in the involvement of the State, nor in its support for cooperatives, nor in the specific means and deadlines for action, nor in the total absence of an agreement regime or minimum partisan consensus, this diploma is credible enough in terms of its short-term implementation”, he added.
Rebelo de Sousa also assures that the presentation of this package “ended up polarizing” the debate on forced rent and local housing, “turned off other proposals and measures” and “made a desirable regime agreement on Housing very difficult, outside and within the Assembly of the Republic”.
The program, presented in February to respond to the housing crisis in Portugal and with an estimated investment of 900 million euros, was approved in Parliament at the end of July with the vote in favor of only the Socialists, who govern with a majority absolute, and after including a dozen proposals from other parties.
Even so, it had not managed to silence the criticism from opposition parties, mayors, associations and the Portuguese president, who weeks ago advanced that it seemed “inoperative”.
forced rent
Among the most criticized measures is the forced rental of empty homes for at least two years, although vacation homes, those of emigrants or those that are empty because the owner is providing care to a relative or away for professional reasons, are not included. health or training
They also wanted to limit tourist apartments and suspend new licenses, with the exception of rural areas, the Madeira and Azores archipelagos, and “low-density” municipalities and neighborhoods.
Tourist apartments would have to pay a special tax, which would be set at 15%, and the Golden Visa regime, which grants residence in exchange for investment, would also end, among other measures.
Access to housing has become a problem in Portugal, where prices have increased by almost 75% in the last decade.
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