“The previous government didn’t do everything wrong”, says Minister of Infrastructure and Housing

The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, pointed out the ideological differences with the previous Government, but did not leave the praise completely aside, saying that “he did not do everything wrong” and that several points are being studied to see what “it needs to change”. The measures will be announced “in the coming weeks”.

At the “Portugal Habita” conference, organized by CNN Portugal Summit within the scope of SIL – Salão Imobiliário de Portugal, at the Lisbon International Fair (FIL), in Lisbon, he began by praising the fact that housing has become “one of the pillars of the State Social even in the last Government”.

“The previous government did not do everything wrong, we are not going to completely revolutionize [as políticas de habitação]”, he said, referring to the clear ideological differences between PS and PSD, but that what the new Government, led by Luís Montenegro, intends is to “maintain what is good and redo what needs to change”.

His statements were later praised by Maria Begonha, a socialist deputy who, even so, regretted some of the measures that the Government intends to abolish.

What will change?

Over the last month, roughly, the Government has already been announcing some of the measures that will be implemented in relation to housing, namely some that were included in the More Housing package. One of the points, again mentioned by the minister, is the issue of coercive leasing. In his opinion, in the case of vacant houses, the best route is tax. “In vacant houses, [os proprietários] they have to be penalized, they have to pay more IMI”, he said, indicating that “several layers of pressure” must be created.

Another issue where the current Government differs from the old one is the rent ceiling. Pinto Luz was clear: “there will be no control over the increase in rents”. “The support [às famílias que necessitam] they already exist, we are going to revisit them to reinforce them”, he added, referring to Porta 65, which the Government promised to reformulate.

Additionally, they want to reverse local accommodation laws. The government official recalled that 40% of local accommodation in Portugal is located in the Algarve. “Objectively we cannot treat things that are different equally and that was the problem with the previous law. We want to treat differently what is different, because the problem is not the same in the Algarve, Lisbon, Porto and Castelo Branco.”

Working on the demand and supply side

From Pinto Luz’s perspective, it is necessary to work on the demand side, but also on the supply side, both in the short term. In the case of demand, the Government had announced, during the election campaign, 100% credit for young people up to 35 years of age and the non-payment of some taxes.

However, “if there are no houses on the supply side, we cannot solve the problem either”. Thus, the Government wants to guarantee that the 50 thousand homes foreseen in the PRR (26 thousand financed by the PRR and the others by the State, he explained) are completed because, otherwise, Portugal will not receive the money.

Part of the problem lies with the IHRU, he said, as “it was not prepared”. The IHRU must make applications for these properties viable so that local authorities can move forward.

The minister also referred to the need to review construction laws, strengthen the transport network and the rental market. He also stressed that all these policies must be studied with all due diligence. stakeholders of the sector, that is, the State together with local authorities, banks, promoters and other companies.