Moedas calls for urgent approval of housing projects

On Tuesday, the mayor of Lisbon called for speedy approval by the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) of €540 million worth of housing projects already submitted, supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The problem of housing shortage was chosen as one of the main current problems facing cities by the mayors of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas and Porto, Ruy Moreira, in a debate in which the mayor of Barcelona also participated, during the 2nd edition. Foro La Toja – Vinculo Atlantico, which took place today in Lisbon.

“Now I can no longer complain to Prime Minister António Costa, but we have already submitted 540 million applications to the IHRU. But now I can no longer complain there, I will complain to the IHRU. [atual] The Prime Minister will now tell him that we really, really, really need this – and I think Rui [Moreira] Moreover, in the municipal councils, these proposals before the IHRU are quickly approved,” Carlos Moedas told an audience also attended by former Socialist Prime Minister António Costa.

Both Carlos Moedas and Rui Moreira highlighted the large investments of these cities in housing and stressed that the challenge facing Porto and Lisbon is not only to address the housing shortage for the most vulnerable, but also for the working classes, such as nurses, police and teachers.

Rui Moreira stressed that the problem of pressure on housing currently mainly affects the middle class, which does not have the opportunity to buy a house.

“At the same time, we created a set of standards that made construction more expensive. And this is amazing. And then, naturally, we have to allocate public resources and invite private companies to participate in these efforts. In other words, housing should also be a financial market. There can be no confidence that we will solve the problem only through public funds,” he said.

“The fact is that this is a problem that cannot be solved with a magic wand. Either it is only public or only private. It is impossible to think that we can solve the problem with one solution,” he emphasized, since for his part Carlos Moedas emphasized that one problem is that “construction cycles are three- or four-year cycles” and “short-term solutions” are needed.

The mayor of Porto emphasized that about 13.5% of his city’s population lives in social housing (with an average income of 58 euros), representing a municipal cost of 60 million euros per year.

Rui Moreira also said that more demands should be placed on cities, referring to municipalities that, unlike Lisbon or Porto, “live on transfers from the central state.”

“And, once again, I will be politically incorrect and say that some of these cities should be forced to allocate some of the resources that the central state gives them to the construction of public housing. Otherwise, the pressure is on Barcelona, ​​or Lisbon, or Porto. This is huge because we are looking to put pressure on those municipalities that are not investing in social housing,” he said.

Moreira explained that there is a group of cities around Porto with “only 2% social housing.”

“And we have 13%. This is impossible. We are creating artificial migration. We have artificial migration because other municipalities prefer to build statues than to build social housing,” he said.

The second edition of Foro La Toja – Vínculo Atlântico, organized by Grupo Hotusa and Fundación La Toja, which took place today in Lisbon, aims to be a space for dialogue, reflection and defense of liberal democracy, and this year it was dedicated to the transition to liberal democracy, Portugal and Spain , with support from the April 25 50th Anniversary Commission.