Government vows to reverse ‘wrong measures’ in More Housing program

On Wednesday, the government confirmed it would scrap Mais Habitação measures it considers “wrong”, including forced tenancies, rent freezes and “punitive measures” for local housing.

In the Program XXIV of the Constitutional Government presented to the Assembly of the Republic, what was promised by the Democratic Alliance (SDP/CDU-PP/PPM) when it ran in the last legislative elections in March has been fulfilled and “certainty” is assumed in the reversal of some decisions previous socialist executive body, embodied in Law No. 56/2023, approved on October 6 last year.

Regarding local placements, the government program states that extraordinary contributions to these activities and the expiration of licenses before the start of the Mais Habitação program will be “immediately” cancelled.

The executive also adds that he will review “other legal restrictions” on local occupancy “deemed disproportionate.”

The previous Socialist chief executive also approved the forced leasing of abandoned buildings, a measure that the PSD/CDS-PP government would reverse, opposing the “almost automatic introduction to the market of empty or underutilized properties and public lands.”

The program of the XXIV Constitutional Government was presented this Wednesday by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte, to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.

The document was approved by the Council of Ministers and will be discussed at the plenary meeting of the Assembly of the Republic on Thursday and Friday.

The government, led by Luis Montenegro, has the support of 80 deputies – 78 from the PSD and two from the SDS-PP – out of 230, in a parliament in which the PS has 78 seats, Chega – 50, the Liberal Initiative – eight, BU. five, PCP four, Livre also four and PAN one.