55 applications for housing support for Ukrainian refugees in Lisbon approved

An emergency center set up in Lisbon to house Ukrainian refugees registered 135 applications for rent support until January, of which only 55 have already been approved by the Housing Institute, the capital’s municipality said.

In response to Lusa’s questions about the year of the war in Ukraine, the office of human rights and social rights adviser Sofia Ataide (CDS-PP) also clarified that at the end of January, 65 candidates were awaiting approval from the Institute for Housing and Urban Regeneration (IHRU) and 12 people were in the learning phase.

The Lisbon City Council does not specify what happened to the remaining three, which add up to the 135 mentioned.

Housing has been identified by local organizations as the main problem for the integration of Ukrainian refugees in Portugal.

Through the TUT emergency reception point – Todos Aqui, which has been operating since May, “2439 people from Ukraine” passed from March 1 to December 12 last year, the mayor’s office adds, confirming that since October “these arrivals have begun to remain residual.”

Adding these two amounts, only 5.5% of the refugees admitted to the center turned to the rental support service.

“In cases where Ukrainian refugees have signed lease agreements, they have been encouraged to apply for the Porta de Entrada program promoted by the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation, which supports the payment of rent,” Sophia Atheide’s office said in a statement, adding that, in addition, these responses resorted to “urgent accommodation through the Ukrainian community (already residing in Portugal or other refugees)”, referrals to line 144 (National Social Assistance Line) and “one month accommodation in two hotels for two people”.

Created as part of the municipal emergency integration program for refugees from Ukraine, the VSI TUT — Todos Aqui space provides support to arrivals in areas of accommodation, access to employment, access to education and training, health, mobility, culture, sports and social support.

Until the beginning of this year, 249 households received food assistance and 367 people received social, legal and psychosocial assistance, according to data provided by the municipality, with the space facilitating the participation of 160 people in cultural activities, including 12 refugee children in sports activities.

Currently, VSI TUT — Todos Aqui directly supports more than two thousand beneficiaries, Lusa, coordinator of the space, Afonso Nogueira, said in an interview a few days ago.

VSI TUT has evolved “in response to needs”, and if “initially the response was extreme”, namely social (food and clothing), now it has moved to the “stage of integrating refugees and strengthening ties in the territory”, explained .

Refugees began arriving in Portugal in May, but their flow has “drastically decreased” since June.

On March 9, 2022, the Lisbon City Council unanimously approved the creation of the municipal emergency program VSI TUT — Todos Aqui, on a proposal submitted by councilors from PS, PCP, BE, Livre and Independent (Paula Marques, political movement Cidadãos por Lisboa, elected by the PS/Livre coalition) , which was later joined by the rest of the executive branch, including President Carlos Moedas (PSD).

In accordance with the protocol between the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal and the Lisbon City Council, the space created for one year has a budget of 320,000 euros (290,000 in 2022 and 30,000 in 2023).