Carlos Moedas says he was the ‘only’ mayor to ban local accommodation in Lisbon

Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas (PSD) said on Tuesday that he was the “only one” to stop local accommodation in the city, while the PS recalls that the PSD/SDS-PP leadership has always voted against suspending new records.

“Until now, I have been the only mayor to have stopped local accommodation,” Carlos Moedas said at a meeting of the Lisbon Municipal Assembly as part of an assessment of the work of the municipal executive power between May and June.

The SDP mayor responded to BE municipal deputy Vasco Barata, who accused him of cutting investments in public housing programs and spending more time protecting local housing than protecting the homes people live in.

Rejecting these accusations, Carlos Moedas stressed that “it is a lie” that the PSD/CDS-PP leadership is disinvesting in housing, stressing that the chamber has signed 560 million euros with the European Union for this sector.

Regarding local accommodation, the Social Democrat criticised the “enormous negligence” of BE, which supported the previous municipal executive led by PS, during a period in which the city saw an increase from 500 to 18 thousand establishments, questioning whether any of the blocs had investments in this area, alluding to the case of former BE councillor Ricardo Robles.

The BE deputy retorted, saying that the SDP mayor “has many ways to avoid the truth.”

Criticising the idea that Carlos Moedas was the one who did the most to stop local placements in Lisbon, PS municipal leader Manuel Lage recalled that the PSD/CDU-PP leadership, which governs without an absolute majority, has always voted against the opposition’s proposal to extend the suspension of new registrations until the amendment to the municipal regulations for this activity comes into force.

In response, the Social Democrat explained that the PSD/CDS-PP’s goal was to develop a new local accommodation regulation with relative and absolute containment zones, acknowledging the vote against the suspension proposals presented by the opposition, but noting that “the goal was the same.”

During this 2021-2025 mandate, the chamber has inspected local housing and cancelled 250 licences, the mayor noted, leaving a “democratic commitment” to resubmit the proposal for new rules to the chamber meeting, since it was decided in April 2023 that its assessment would only be carried out after the approval of the Municipal Housing Charter, which has not yet happened but is already in its final stages.

PEV MP Claudia Madeira noted that in 2019 the chamber approved local accommodation regulations that provide for containment zones in the city centre, “but leaving the door open for new hotels”, with new hotels due to open between 2020 and 2023. 71 tourist residential complexes, of which 52 hotels, of which 41 are in the absolute restriction zone of local accommodation.

Claudia Madeira asked whether it makes sense to prohibit local accommodation in the city centre while maintaining the licensing and opening of hotels, to which Carlos Moedas responded that it was a question of respecting the Municipal General Plan (PDM), since “there is an acquired right”, which implies a revision of the PDM.

From the PS bench, Sofia Escaria questioned the vision of change of the New Times Party (PSD/CDS-PP/Aliança/MPT/PPM), which promised a different solution to the city’s problems, saying that “these changes require space, but not for the better.”

The Socialist also questioned Carlos Moedas’ political position on local accommodation, given that the government (PSD/CDS-PP) recently cancelled measures from the Mais Habitação programme implemented by the previous executive (PS), when there is a European trend to limit the impact of local accommodation, including the Spanish city of Barcelona, ​​which has decided to end this activity by 2028.