The measures of the new Mais Habitação program will be presented in Parliament “in the next few days”, the Minister of Responsibility, questioned by the PSD over proposals not yet presented to MPs, said this Wednesday.
At the hearings before the Commission for Economics, Public Works, Planning and Housing, Housing Minister Marina Gonçalves introduced the National Housing Program, which was constantly accompanied by hype, especially from SDP deputies.
In the first round of questions, the largest opposition party submitted a “strong protest” to the government for not sending the minister’s first regimental letter on More Housing measures to be presented to the Assembly prior to this Wednesday’s hearing. Republic.
“You come here without any proposals in Parliament? What are we doing here? There is only one housing package in parliament, the PSD,” recalled the Social Democrat MP Paulo Ríos de Oliveira, asking when the measures would come.
Marina Gonçalves did not answer the first time, and the deputy asked again. The minister then replied: “They will enter in the coming days, the program was approved only on Thursday. [dia 30 de março]”.
“We look forward to discussing our proposals in the coming days,” he stressed, promising to consider “all opinions.”
The SDP accused the minister of speaking like a “tape” and resorting to “remax presentations and photos”. [nome de uma imobiliária]”.
For the largest opposition party, the fact that the Mais Habitação program has not yet been presented in Parliament is having “a devastating effect on the confidence of investors, tenants and landlords.”
In response, Marina Gonçalves accused the PSD of holding a “demagogic debate” on the issue of housing, namely limiting the discussion to the forced leasing of vacant houses.
The minister recalled that this Wednesday the increased IMI (municipal property tax) is an already existing tool to mobilize free assets, and many municipalities can and already can buy and expropriate to rebuild houses.
“We are not demonizing anyone,” he stressed, emphasizing the need to mobilize all players in the sector.
Regarding the presentation she gave to MPs, Marina Gonçalves said that “this is not an advertisement” but rather “work on the ground” and emphasized “the mobilization of state assets to pass on to families.”
Socialist MP Maria Begogna praised the “balance” of the new package and accused the PSD of being “on the side of the owners.”
During his speech, the chairman of the parliamentary committee, Afonso Oliveira (PSD), had to ask for silence several times and even appealed to “politeness” and admitted that the hearings were taking place with “some warm-up.”
For Chega, MP Filipe Melo highlighted the impact of the new measures on market confidence and recalled that the state still does not know its assets and “still does not know” how many vacant properties it can place on the rental market.
“Before launching a furious attack on individual assets, why doesn’t the government first look at the free assets it has?” he asked.
“I have to speak Chinese,” the minister responded, noting that “it’s one thing to have different views” on housing, “it’s another thing to say that nothing is being done,” and invited deputies to “travel around the country.”
Carlos Guimarães Pinto, MP for IL, criticized the government’s policies for focusing on local accommodation and for influencing the stability of the entire sector.
The minister refuses to place the blame on any one sector – be it local residence or golden visas – but blames the “collection of all” for the current state.
PCP MP Bruno Diaz, who said and repeated the phrase “there are not enough houses that people can afford,” asked the minister when the nine thousand houses in the public park would be ready at affordable prices promoted by the Housing Institute. and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU), which he pointed out is “chronically under-resourced.”
“We have all the works to be completed between 2026 and 2030,” Marina Gonçalves assured, specifying that 2,800 will be completed by 2026 and acknowledging that additional measures will be required to strengthen the public housing stock.
Mariana Mortagua, BE MP, believes that the Mais Habitação measures “do not solve anything”, stressing that nothing is being done right now to give people an answer.
“People now need an answer, but the government is not answering,” said the deputy blockist.
Marina Gonçalves recalled that the Mais Habitação program includes “exceptional and temporary measures” related to the current crisis, but is also a “set of structural response measures”.
He emphasized that the public park is a priority, it is a structural response, but it “takes time”, thus indicating the need for the Mais Habitação to resort to a set of tools of an opportunistic nature to strengthen the response.
With regard to the controversy surrounding the compulsory leasing measure, the minister did not want to “lose too much time” and once again reminded that this tool is already in the law and that it already exists to mobilize free assets.
However, he mentioned that not because it exists and is available, one can see that “the legacy is mobilized only through this tool”.
“It can be used,” but “we have many other tools,” he pointed out, referring to the need to not reduce “More Housing” to just one tool.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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