The Northern Association calls for ‘urgent’ action to keep families off the streets

The Association of Renters and Owners of Condominiums of Northern Portugal (AICNP) wants the government to take urgent action to help families who “risk ending up on the streets because they cannot afford housing”, a spokesman said this Saturday.

“It is necessary, in addition to [programa do Governo] More housing, take measures, even if they are temporary, to prevent some people from ending up on the streets. Something needs to be done urgently,” said lawyer Alexandra Cachucho, who accompanied AICNP representatives to a meeting in Lisbon with Housing Minister Marina Gonçalves on Friday.

Speaking to Lusa, a lawyer for the association, which has about 60,000 registered members, spoke of the AICNP’s “two main problems”.

“On the one hand, the difficulties that households are currently experiencing in meeting their expenses and any increase in income will exacerbate these difficulties, and on the other hand, the actual acute housing shortage that we are experiencing at the moment and which is expected to worsen in the coming months “, – he said.

According to Alexandra Cachucho, these concerns were registered and shared in the guardianship, which “promised to meet again in the near future.”

“The association is witnessing an increase in demand for requests for assistance, an increase in the number of members, an increase in the number of weekly consultations it offers to assist members. As part of these consultations, we were able to understand that there are several people who are actually in a situation of non-compliance with obligations towards landlords and need to rent out property, but in practice they are prevented from renting out because there is no response either in the private housing market or in public housing “, – he said.

Regarding the increase in the number of requests for help, Alexandra Cachucho noted that they have been registered for several years, but this year it is “much more significant.”

“It’s simple, but very difficult: there is an increase in demand and need, but without an increase in the income of the population. There is a large disproportion between demand and supply,” he concluded.

The AICNP took part in a meeting on Friday at the Ministry of Housing, a meeting that was also attended by the Association of Tenants of Lisbon (AIL).

In a statement to Lusa on Friday, AIL Secretary General Antonio Machado said the main concern brought to the attention of the housing minister was the “unsustainability” for tenants of “increasing even more” rent costs.

Parliament returned on Friday to approve without changes the Mais Habitação program, only with a positive vote by the PS, in a review following the veto of the President of the Republic.

The diploma, approved in a final global vote in July and now confirmed, had some changes from the first version proposed by the government, which did not prevent opposition from the opposition and housing-related business and civil society associations.

The most controversial and controversial measures include the suspension of registration of new local housing outside low-density areas and emergency contributions to this, the forced rental of houses that have been empty for more than two years, and the introduction of a cap on the value of new leases of houses that are already in On the market.

The package also includes a capital gains tax exemption for owners selling homes to the government, an end to the new golden visas, an increase in the family IMI dependent deduction, changes to the stand-alone property income rate, and a tax exemption for owners who rent their homes from local housing by the end of 2024.