Lisbon City Council and DECO renew protocol for the ‘Healthy Finance’ project

The ‘Healthy Finance’ program, launched in March 2023 by Lisbon City Council (CML) and DECO, celebrated its one year anniversary. The two entities renewed, on the day that marked World Consumer Rights Day, March 15th, the protocol that establishes the implementation of this project. To date, more than 400 telephone consultations and more than 200 face-to-face consultations have been carried out.

On World Consumer Rights Day, which is celebrated on March 15th, Lisbon City Council (CML) and DECO renewed the protocol to continue the ‘Healthy Finance’ project. This aims to advise and support the most disadvantaged and unprotected families in different areas. Some of them are credit restructuring, budget management, social support, legal aid, leasing, insolvency, among others. The project started in March 2023, and operates, from Monday to Friday, in the Lisbon City Council building, located in Campo Grande.

Between March 2023 and January 2024, the Healthy Finance office carried out 463 telephone calls and 211 personal consultations. Each session lasts approximately one hour. Most of the problems identified by families concern issues related to housing. However, there are also cases of insolvency, seizures, illness, unemployment, among other issues, as the coordinator of DECO’s Financial Protection Office, Natália Nunes, told Olhares de Lisboa. On the other hand, there were also 38 intervention processes, the vast majority of which concern problems related to the increase in the cost of living.

Most contacts were made by women

“We are talking about families who work, receive little more than the National Minimum Wage, but the increase in the cost of living leads them to have financial difficulties”. Of these 38 cases, 26 have already been resolved, said Natália Nunes. Of these concluded cases, in 23 “there was a total restructuring of the situation. In other words, we truly helped to ensure that families did not lose their homes, were not evicted, and that their family budgets were not disrupted.” Over the last year of the project, “more than 300 topics were addressed”, reveals the person in charge.

In each session, a diagnosis of the person’s economic situation is carried out to find the best solution. The majority of contacts made were made by women (72%). The parishes where the largest number of requests were registered were “Benfica, Carnide and Campolide”, although the office received people from the 24 parishes in Lisbon. “Although the office is sought after by those who have financial difficulties, what we want is for it to be used by everyone, even from a preventive perspective. The balance is very positive, we were able to help many families in the last year”, said the person in charge.

Improving families’ financial literacy

“Each service we provide ends up being a real training session in terms of financial literacy for families. We instill the need to prepare their family budget, which is something that many people don’t do due to lack of knowledge”, adds Natália Nunes. Due to the good results achieved in the first year of the project, CML decided to renew the agreement with DECO to continue ‘Healthy Finance’. “The focus of Lisbon City Council is people”, said Sofia Athayde, councilor responsible for Social Rights at CML.

“Responding to a serious need for Lisbon residents, we designed a set of measures designed to combat the consequences of rising prices, which especially affect the most unprotected”, said the mayor. Therefore, in March 2023, in partnership with DECO, “the Healthy Finance cabinet was created, which we celebrate today and want to renew”. Sofia Athayde gave a positive assessment of the first year of the project, remembering that the Lisbon City Council’s focus “is people”. This led to “in 2022, we approved a set of measures to combat” inflation.

Service is free

This is how the ‘Healthy Finances’ office was created, which aims to “support residents and solve their problems, free of charge”. Sofia Athayde also thanked the municipality’s parish councils, and Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, who “are privileged partners” of this project, which the municipality wants to continue. Luís Rodrigues, president of DECO, recalled the current situation that many families are experiencing, highlighting the role of this institution in protecting citizens’ rights.

“A year ago, DECO and CML signed a protocol to create a response to families”, he recalled. The official also added that most of the people who used this service are active in the job market, with “a quarter of retired people and a fifth of unemployed people”. “In the past, economic crises were caused by illness, divorce or unemployment,” said Luís Rodrigues, adding that, currently, in addition to these factors, there is also an increase in the cost of living, which also affects those who work.

Personalized advice

Healthy Finances thus aims to bring “a rebalancing of families’ financial lives”. In this way, citizens who seek out this office receive personalized training and advice, which meets their specific problems. In addition to families, DECO also wants, within the scope of this project, to carry out financial literacy training for other audiences, such as young people of school age, through projects to be developed in schools. “It is important that young people begin to have knowledge of how to deal with money”, concludes Natália Nunes, who hopes to start these projects this year.

On the other hand, added Luís Rodrigues, DECO also wants to invest in these programs among university students, immigrants and people with disabilities. “There are many immigrants who live in overcrowded houses and who do not know their rights”, maintained the president of DECO. Therefore, it is planned to create a guide, translated into several languages, with various useful information for those coming from abroad. André Regueiro, coordinator of DECO Regions, highlighted and congratulated the close partnership with municipalities in protecting consumers.

In addition to the difficulties caused by the effects of inflation, unemployment, among others, nowadays there are still issues related to fraud carried out through digital media. Therefore, DECO also wants to invest in digital literacy. In addition to the physical office in Campo Grande, you can also contact the ‘Healthy Finances’ project, via the toll-free number 800 910 523. This line operates on weekdays, between 9am and 8pm.