Daniel Clarke moved to Portugal more than five years ago but was the victim of a housing crisis that forced the government to end the controversial Golden Visa scheme and ban new short-term holiday rental permits for tourists.
The 35-year-old British travel writer could no longer afford to live in Lisbon and moved south to the Algarve.
The scheme offered EU passports to non-EU citizens in exchange for investments, often in real estate. New tourist hosting permits such as Airbnbs will also be banned, except in less densely populated rural areas.
The crackdown could hit Brits who wanted to avoid Brexit but are blamed for skyrocketing house prices and rents as wealthy foreigners snap up mansions.
Property prices in Portugal, one of the poorest countries in Western Europe, have risen sharply in recent years, but wages have not kept pace. Last year, more than 50% of workers were earning less than 1,000 euros a month, and rents in Lisbon alone rose by 37%.
The problem is exacerbated by inflation, which currently stands at 8.3 percent.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said last week that the housing crisis is no longer only affecting the vulnerable, but is also affecting middle families.
The government will regulate rent increases and offer tax breaks to landlords who turn tourist properties into rentals for local residents, Costa said. He said the state would lease empty houses directly from landlords for five years and put them on the rental market. It is not known when the measures will take effect.
However, housing activists say there was no point in ditching the golden visa when Portugal introduced a digital nomadic visa for wealthy foreigners last October.
The visa entitles non-Portuguese workers with a high monthly income to live and work in Portugal without having to pay local taxes.
Mr Clark, who is originally from Dorset but lived in Australia before moving to Portugal, believes the Portuguese government had to take action to deal with the housing crisis by suspending short-term rentals for tourists.
But he said most digital nomads use medium-term two or three-month rentals rather than tourist accommodation.
“I think (these measures) will solve the problem to some extent, and something needs to be done to balance the needs of tourism with the needs of the local population and the fact that a guest room costs more than the minimum wage,” he said. . said. I.
“But I think the mid-term rental market is an industry that doesn’t receive a lot of attention, but it exacerbates the problem more than we think.”
The Portuguese government has been criticized by two unlikely allies, the resettlement agencies and the far-left Left Bloc, who said it was counterproductive to the Portuguese economy and made landowners more profitable.
The international resettlement agency Henley & Partners has urged Portugal not to end the Golden Visa program.
“(We) would like to urge the government (too) … to explore options for adapting it to the current economic context and real estate market so that it can continue to bring significant benefits to its citizens, rather than remove this important source of investment. and forced to replace income by taxing their employees or increasing debt for future generations,” the company said in a statement. I.
The opposition parties Social Democrats and Liberal Initiative called these measures an “encroachment” on the rights of owners and companies and can appeal these measures to the Constitutional Court.
Mariana Mortagua, a left bloc MP, said the government’s changes would only benefit homeowners.
“These measures will help not ordinary people, but landlords who have already coped very well with rising prices,” she said.
Andrea Galvao, a housing rights activist, accused the government of failing to deliver on previous promises to address the housing crisis.
“The goal was for all Portuguese to have access to quality housing by 2024 – it doesn’t look like that will happen,” she said.
Last year, the European Commission called on the bloc’s governments to stop selling citizenship to investors.
This is different from golden visas, which grant permanent residence rather than citizenship, but Brussels’ actions were based on fears that these arrangements could pose a security risk.
Brussels also urged countries to double-check whether those sanctioned in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine applied or received golden passports or visas.
Meanwhile, one in five Britons, or 21 percent, said they plan to work from another country this year, according to new research from financial consultancy Finder UK.
The most popular countries for homeworkers in 2022 were the US (13%), France (12%) and Germany (11%).
Source: I News
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