Moedas wants buildings to accommodate homeless people throughout the Lisbon Metropolitan Area

The Lisbon City Council (CML) will propose that spaces be created to welcome homeless people in the capital’s suburban municipalities.

In statements to Renaissancethe president of CML, Carlos Moedas, argues that “is a challenge that cannot just be faced by the Lisbon Chamber“. Therefore, he will meet this Friday with the mayors of the municipalities in the Metropolitan Area.

“One of the ideas is find buildings in other municipalities where we work together. Reception centers cannot only be in the municipality of Lisbon”, reveals the mayor and former European Commissioner.

Carlos Moedas recognizes that there is a clear increase in people living on the streets: “It is obvious that the situation after Covid-19 has worsenedassociations are talking about increases of around 25%”. There is a clear profile: many are migrants, some of whom do not have legal documentation.

For a broader response, the president of the CML says that he has spoken with Carla Tavares, president of the Chamber of Amadora and president of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, which brings together 18 municipalities.

Currently, the Lisbon municipality has six temporary shelter centers, the largest in the Beato area, where people were transferred last month from another center in Arroios.

Carlos Moedas suggests that there are people in this situation who move to the municipality of Lisbon to find a daily solution: “The municipality of Lisbon is the place where these situations end up having to be resolved“, he summarizes. Therefore, the mayor of the capital wants to alleviate the pressure that exists in the city of Lisbon.

This week the Renaissance revealed that there are homeless people who are staying the night in vacant buildings.

Terminate AIMA? “I don’t care what the name is, it has to work”

Asked if he agrees with the president of the Porto City Council, Rui Moreira, who defended the extinction of the Agency for Migration and Asylum Integration (AIMA), following the attacks on migrants in the city of Invicta, Carlos Moedas does not follow.

“I’m in solidarity with him, I understand what he’s going through. The point for me is not that the institution is called AIMA or SEF, it has to work”, stresses the mayor of Lisbon.

Moedas considers that the “AIMA already exists, but it is not working to resolve problems of this nature”, and pressures the government to provide a more comprehensive response to this problem.

The mayor points to episodes of tent accumulation in the Anjos and Arroios areas, and distinguishes two situations.

“When people are documented we can resolve it, but there are many people who unfortunately do not have documents, and the Chamber cannot help, we need the government and AIMA“, warns Carlos Moedas.

The former European Commissioner admits that this issue has been a field of political combat but believes that he has to “be above the partisan wars and find solutions”. Despite this, Carlos Moedas believes that on this topic “there is unity in the objective of solving these problems in the various cities in AML”.