EU recovery funds may be used to tackle ‘undignified housing’ in Lisbon

Lisbon city council on Thursday proposed to include municipal neighbourhoods in the Lisbon local housing strategy, thus allowing the application of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) in their rehabilitation.

The announcement was made by the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD), and by the councillor responsible for housing, Filipa Roseta, during the presentation of the Municipal Housing Charter.

The proposal – which will be taken to the discussion in the next council meeting – comes from the verification that the requalification of the municipal neighbourhoods, managed by Gebalis, was not covered by the European funds for housing.

According to data from the local authority, 13,150 situations of undignified housing have been identified in municipal neighbourhoods, which require an investment of €160 million to be resolved.

Considering that the total municipal patrimony is 23,692 dwellings, the situations referred to represent more than half (55.5%).

The Municipal Housing Charter, presented today, sets three priorities: to increase and improve the supply of municipal housing, working “with the whole system”, including the private sector, to reduce disparities in access to housing and to regenerate “the forgotten city”.

According to the councillor for housing, these priorities aim to achieve three objectives: eradicating poverty, fixing the population and making Lisbon “a beautiful, inclusive and sustainable city”.

The councillor recalled that the current edition of support for affordable rent, in which the council supports one-third of the rent, has applications open until 28 February, having already received about €680.

Asked about the absence of specific measures for homeless people, the councillor referred to a meeting scheduled to be held on 6 March.

Acknowledging “the bad news” that “the last decade was the worst” in housing, the councillor still said she was confident that the technical team of the capital’s municipality would “manage to reverse the trend”.

(Sofia Branco | Lusa.pt)

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