Portugal increases supply of housing for the elderly by 30% with the help of the PRR
The Prime Minister announced that Portugal will increase by 30 percent the supply of residences for the elderly at the end of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and the Program to Enlarge the Social Facilities Network.
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António Costa spoke this Friday at the inauguration of the Nossa Senhora da Piedade residence, in Cova da Piedade, in the municipality of Almada, which will have an offer of 80 beds for the elderly in a total investment of eight million euros, of which 2.7 are from the PRR.
“We would never have the capacity, in such a short time, to increase the supply of beds for the elderly by 30 percent if they did not have the PRR”, said António Costa at the ceremony.
According to the Prime Minister, the new Residential Structure for the Elderly (ERPI) of the Social and Parochial Center Padre Ricardo Gameiro, inaugurated today, is an example that answers the question “what happens to PRR money”.
About two thirds of all the PRR funds, António Costa said, have already been awarded, with the European Commission having validated the transfer to Portugal of a third of that amount.
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“In these awarded funds there are around 93,000 projects in the country as a whole”, he said, explaining that the PRR is a resource to provide a structural response to problems identified by each country.
In the case of Portugal, he stressed, one of the problems identified was related to the need to strengthen responses for the elderly, thus allowing the financing of 14,000 beds to which 18,000 beds should be added under the national program Pares.
For the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, today, Dia de Reis, “is a moment to thank the great capacity that the social sector has had in being present and in the middle of a pandemic not giving up “.
“Today we are only here thanks to you, thanks to a moment as critical as the pandemic and for taking risks and deciding to invest in order to obtain a differentiated social response”, he said, adding that the pandemic has clearly shown that “nobody saves himself alone and how the Social State is crucial to respond in critical moments but also in emotional moments”.
According to the president of the Parish Center Father Ricardo Gameiro, the project for the space now inaugurated began six years ago with the purchase of the land and arises from the need to respond to the existing waiting lists in an area with a very aging population.
Father José Pinheiro explained that the work, from the tender to the award, lasted two years and that the new structure is located in the heart of the city of Almada, allowing the welcome to be framed in their neighborhood and with the people.
At the end of the ceremony, António Costa was questioned by journalists about the recent resignation of Secretary of State for Agriculture Carla Alves, but left without making any comment on the matter.