Thousands of people came out to demonstrate this afternoon in Lisbon and many other major cities Portugalin favor of the right to housing, against rising rental prices, calling in particular for government control of rents and more social housing.

“Housing: a right for all”, “a right or a privilege” could be read on the posters held by the demonstrators during this mobilization.

“I live in fear that at any moment my landlord will ask me to raise my rent,” Ana Reis da Silva, a 32-year-old lawyer who has lived in Lisbon for the past ten years, told AFP.

Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. According to the government, last year more than 50% of employees had a monthly income of less than 1,000 euros. The monthly minimum wage is 760 euros.

“Rental prices must remain affordable,” said Martino Fayas Pereira, a 72-year-old retiree living in social housing in the Portuguese capital. He expressed concern about the sharp rise in rental prices in recent years.

The demonstrators called for “the right to housing for all, a right enshrined in the Constitution” as families face rising prices, according to a door-to-door movement that called for action along with other associations for the day.

According to Eurostat, the cost of buying a house in Portugal rose by more than 75% between 2010 and 2022, while rental prices rose by about 25%.

Rental prices in Lisbon, a popular tourist destination, have risen by 65% ​​since 2015, while property prices have risen by 137% over the same period, according to data from Confidencial Imobiliario. Rents rose 37% last year alone, according to another real estate data aggregator, Casafari, more than in Barcelona or Paris.

Young people are in a particularly difficult situation. According to a study by Imovirtual, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Lisbon is around 1,350 euros.

Participating in today’s demonstration, 35-year-old illustrator Diogo Guerra said he hears stories every day about people who are fighting for access to housing. “There are people who work and are homeless, people who are being evicted because their houses are being converted into short-term rentals (for tourists),” he said.

Low wages and high rents make Lisbon the third least livable city in the world, according to a CIA Landlords survey. Portugal’s current inflation rate of 8.2% exacerbates the problem.

“With my salary, which is higher than the average salary in Lisbon, I cannot rent an apartment because it is too expensive,” said Nunzio Renzi, an Italian sales manager based in the Portuguese capital.

To deal with the housing cost crisis and rising property prices, the government on Thursday approved a plan aimed at increasing the number of affordable housing in the country, which has about 730,000 vacant or dilapidated homes.

One of the key measures of the government’s plan is the abolition of the golden visa program, a residence permit issued to wealthy foreign investors. The purpose of ending this program is to limit speculation in the real estate sector.

It also prohibits the issuance of new permits for short-term rentals on the Airbnb platform. However, some argue that these measures are not enough to reduce prices anytime soon.

The government’s plan also includes tax incentives for owners who will charge seasonal rent for seasonal rentals, more favorable taxation in the rental market to make apartments that have been empty for more than two years in major cities affordable.

At the same time, the socialist government is taking steps to help families cope with rising rents and monthly mortgage payments.

“Today there is a huge housing crisis,” said Rita Silva of the housing rights group Habita, who took part in the demonstration in Lisbon. “This is a social emergency,” he said. The government should prioritize social housing that will “offer rent in line with family income,” he said, joining many others in criticizing the government’s plan to resolve the situation.

Source: APE/MEB