After a long day in plenary, deputy Mário Amorim Lopes decided to go to dinner at Honest Greens, on Av. da Liberdade. But first, to decompress, he went to drink a craft beer next door. It was in that area that the parliamentarian lived temporarily, who lived for the first few weeks since he took over from hostel to hostel, carrying his suitcase, computer and wardrobe along the subway. “I spent a month and a half living in local accommodation, with just one room, in an effort to save money”, he tells SATURDAY. Having been elected by the Aveiro constituency, the liberal moved to the capital, but was unable to find a solution that he liked overnight. First, he looked for rooms, “but they were all unaffordable, from 800, 950 euros and up”, he says; Afterwards, he checked availability at the house of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, a regular place for several parliamentarians, but that didn’t happen either. The possibility of living at the Hotel São Bento arose, which has an agreement with the parliamentary groups, but the deputy prefers local accommodation – and that’s how it stayed.
The definitive solution came accidentally and later, about two weeks ago. To that end, let’s go back to Mário Amorim Lopes’ beer before dinner: sitting on the terrace, he is approached by a man he knew. “He went there to congratulate me on my election and asked me if I knew anyone looking for a room. I immediately replied: ‘Yes, me!’ It was completely fortuitous,” he states.
The housing crisis felt across the country has been an obstacle for those who want to live in Lisbon – and not even elected representatives are immune to the phenomenon, be they liberal or blocist, Chega or Livre.
Deputies couch-surfers
Livre deputy Jorge Pinto, elected by the Porto constituency, also experienced difficulties. The first temporary residence in the capital of the parliamentarian from Amarante and environmental engineer in Brussels was in the homes of friends. “I was always at friends’ houses with the house on my back, a backpack full of clothes”, he confesses to SATURDAY.
During that time, with a T2 in sight, he did the usual round of apartments. “I physically visited four apartments, but they were all 1,500 euros upwards”, he laments, in a case he had already told Rádio Renascença. In one of the properties he considered, they had to go through an interview – as if it were a job. He ended up finding a house in Lumiar at a reasonable price because of “a friend of a friend”. “I contacted all my friends in Lisbon asking if they knew anyone,” she says. Despite being relieved, he still had to present a guarantor and advance two deposit payments and two advance payments. He doesn’t complain for himself: “With a deputy’s salary, it’s perfectly enough to have a decent life, but imagine most people”, he laments.
The same happened with Vanessa Barata, Chega’s deputy elected by the Braga circle, who also spent “some time at the home of family members who live in the Lisbon area”. “I even looked at university residences and asked for quotes from hotels, but in the first case they didn’t have space, and in the latter case, I would have to subject myself to the hotel’s weekly availability”, she says to SATURDAY. “It wasn’t exactly easy to find a place to stay during the work week.” However, he has already found a more permanent solution: “I finally managed to find an apartment on Margem Sul, in a relatively quiet area, despite moving to my residence in Fafe every week.”
Sharing a house (even with friars)
There is tradition and parliamentary agreements that facilitate the process. In recent legislatures, one of the most common solutions has been to pay by the day at the Lisbon São Bento Hotel, which has an agreement with several parliamentary groups. At the start of the legislature, deputies from the PSD bench received in their email the discount conditions to which deputies are entitled. How much is it? The services of the Assembly of the Republic guarantee that they “do not have the slightest involvement” in these agreements, which are the responsibility of the parliamentary groups, say the services to the SATURDAY. “The dialogue is carried out between the Parliamentary Groups and the Hotel. Our Services therefore do not have access to any information on the subject”, they highlighted. However, according to information collected by SATURDAY, prices are around 60 to 70 euros per night, a discount of almost 50%. According to the hotel’s official website, the cheapest room in June is around 124 euros, for example. However, AR services ensure reservations at the Hotel São Bento when employees from other parliaments, who have training in the Portuguese parliament, travel, as part of bilateral cooperation actions, but this in no way helps national deputies.
Another option is to move to a congregation in Lisbon. The more than 10 friars of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, who live in seclusion, are joined by several deputies. Located at R. de Santo Amaro 51, between the Assembly of the Republic and the Prime Minister’s official residence, the rooms are humble: a bed, wardrobe, bookshelf and bathroom. Mário Amorim Lopes decided not to go, but several other deputies are staying there, according to the SATURDAY. In 2012, according to Correio da Manhã, four deputies lived there – João Figueiredo, Nuno Reis and Paula Cardoso (from PSD) and Luísa Salgueiro (from PS) – and payment was based on donations.
There are those who prefer to improvise. If Vanessa Barata got to see university residences and Mário Lopes Amorim jumped from local accommodation to local accommodation, there is also a social-democratic deputy who chose an Army mess, but who his colleagues prefer not to identify, as they imagine he does not want to tell the solution resource.
Another common option is to share a house with colleagues. This is the case of former PSD deputy Manuela Tender, now representing Chega, elected by the Vila Real circle. “It was very difficult to find a place to stay. The difference between the Trás-os-Montes region and the capital is huge”, she admits to SATURDAY. More difficult and much more expensive. As soon as she was elected, she started looking in the market, but what she found was a much more aggressive situation than between 2011 and 2015, when for the first time she had to move to Lisbon. “Now a T2 is above 1,500 euros”, she laments, adding that the preference for “furnished properties”, determined by political circumstances, does not help. “We don’t know how long this legislature will last.” Therefore, it is not worth buying furniture, and this is another limitation in the research.
The solution? Sharing a house: “I had to share a house with a colleague. As I already knew some landlords from the other legislatures in which I was a member, I contacted one of them again and there was a house available. That’s what saved me.” The situation is not new. In 2019, at the start of the penultimate legislature, the current Minister of Youth Margarida Balseiro Lopes, then a PSD deputy, shared a house with fellow youth and bench colleague Sofia Matos, wrote the SATURDAY at the high.
