Housing price is “the biggest social plague” in Portugal – Mayor
From the Newsroom with Lusa
Renting a T1 in Costa da Caparica costs, on average, 750 euros and housing is scarce, even for those who can afford it. For the president of the Parish Council, this is “the biggest social wound” facing the country.
“The main problem is, without a doubt, housing. We have cases of people completely thrown out on the street, not because they don’t pay, but because the owners want the houses. Others, because they cannot pay”, José Ricardo Martins told the Lusa agency.
The problem affects both national and foreign citizens in the parish city of the municipality of Almada, where there are already around 60 nationalities.
With the rent for a one-bedroom apartment absorbing a minimum wage, the population seeks help directly from the Parish Council, whether to pay for housing or other associated expenses (water, electricity, gas), but also food and school expenses.
“The main lack that I notice, not only for foreigners, but also for Portuguese people, has to do with the problem that I think is the biggest social plague in the country, with housing and with exaggeratedly high prices, even obscene, in terms of rent. ”, declared the mayor.
In office for nine years and fulfilling his last term, Ricardo Martins witnessed the difficulties that the population experienced during the intervention of the troika in Portugal and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, which led the municipality to respond to requests for help which the Food Bank was no longer able to answer: “I usually ask what else will happen to me!”.
Faced with the inflationary crisis, the mayor considers that “the great difficulty” at the moment is housing. The solution, he recommends, is to build public housing, which takes time. He adds that in the Costa area, a large part of the land is private property or reserve area.
The problem is not exclusive to the parish, but giving the municipality of Almada as an example, Ricardo Martins said that thousands of people are waiting for the opportunity to get a house through a municipal program: “There is a huge number of families in Habit´Almada, which have an impact here on the coast. Registrations waiting at home, perhaps we are talking about 7,000 people”.
The Parish Council has the Parish Center as its main partner. “I’m very proud to have such a muscular parish center,” she said.
The mayor fears that the cases he is responding to in conjunction with the church and other partners may reflect what the year 2023 will be like. “If this escalation in terms of energy and extinction continues, obviously we will have problems similar to those that we had during the pandemic”, he estimated, indicating that in this period 7,162 people were supported, within the scope of the Social Commission created in 2016 with various partner entities.
“Despite having some cushion here, although not as much as necessary, in the increase in salaries… it will not be enough for people to be able to carry out their normal lives, even if they have to give up what is not so essential”, he considered.
Caparica has close to 14,000 consumers and around 20,000 inhabitants in winter. New inhabitants arrive every day from the most diverse origins looking for a residence certificate, from Brazil to the United Kingdom, via Ukraine, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Nepal.