Former President of the Republic Cavaco Silva said this Saturday that the housing crisis “is the result of the failure of government policy”, expressing “many doubts” about the success of the executive’s package, which has a “credibility problem”.
Cavaco Silva spoke at a conference marking the 30th anniversary of the Special Resettlement Program (PER), an initiative of the Lisbon Chamber, in a highly critical speech on the new “More Housing” program and the actions of the socialist government. led by António Costa.
“As highlighted, the current crisis is the result of the failure of the government’s housing policy over the past seven years, with very high social costs for thousands of families,” he accused, speaking to the audience, among others, Lisbon Chamber President Carlos Moedas and PSD leader Luis Montenegro.
Despite identifying positive measures such as the abolition of golden visas, the ex-head of state pointed to “other negative measures”, considering that the government’s new housing package “has a credibility issue”.
“Because the government’s track record over the past seven years has not been positive in terms of delivering on these promises, the new housing program suffers from a credibility problem inherent in the policies of the current executive,” he said.
Cavaco Silva left some advice to the government, including “relying on the credibility of the city councils” in this matter, but expressed “many doubts that the new program will be successful.”
“In addition to the lack of trust, there is another factor inherent in the current government that calls into question the practical effectiveness of the program. This is the trust factor. For seven years in power, the confidence of investors,” he criticized.
In addition to the suggestion to put the councils at the “centre for solving the housing crisis in the respective municipalities”, the former President of the Republic also suggested that the government “abandon the absurd idea of the state becoming an active real estate agent, replacing businessmen and homeowners, and that they understand that landlords are not instrument of social policy.
“Books teach that the main instruments of income redistribution policy are taxes and political transfers, not rent from landlords,” he said.
A third piece of advice was also left to manager Antonio Costa, in this case to him “to cast aside ideological prejudices and realize that it is impossible to significantly increase the supply of houses without the active participation of private investors.”
“With the new package, the government has dealt two more blows to the climate of investor confidence: it has called into question the ownership of buildings owned by citizens, threatening to force the vacant housing to be rented out,” he said.
For the former head of state, “faced with this conflict of rights – housing rights and property rights – Marxists who do not know the rules of a market economy operating in the European Union” will say “that private urban property should be collectivized.” .
“Let’s leave them alone with their ignorance,” he said simply.
Another criticism from Cavaco Silva was a proposal to “resurrect the rent freeze because of such a bad memory about rents before 1990 when the state paid landlords to update rents.”
“Given the history of the current government, who guarantees that the state will fulfill this obligation in the future, and not change the rules, as it has already done? Who guarantees that tax incentives of a different nature, which the government is now promising, will not be changed or withdrawn in the future” , is still questionable.