The guarantee of 25% affordable housing in new construction or the limitation of the variation of the effort rate in housing loans are among the 14 BE measures to stop the crisis and the “exorbitant prices” in the sector.
In a press conference, at BE’s headquarters, in Lisbon, to present 14 measures – translated into proposals for amendments to the Mais Habitação package and which will now be voted on in Parliament on a specific basis — the bloc’s leader, Mariana Mortágua, said she hoped it would “become clear” that the proposals presented are “of the most basic common sense to fight the housing crisis.”
To “stop the exorbitant price of home sales,” the BE leader wants to “guarantee 25% affordable housing in all new construction,” even repeating a measure recently passed in Canada to “stop sales of homes to non-residents.” – residents ” when housing is located in areas of urban pressure, excluding emigrants.
To avoid “the race” for golden visas and the increase in new revenues due to the government’s decision to end the first visas and limit the second, Mariana Mortágua wants them to be retroactive to the date of the announcement.
Ending tax benefits and exemptions for non-habitual residents and extending the IMI exemption period to eight years is also part of this package.
To curb the effects of interest rate hikes, the BE leader proposes to “limit the variation in the stress rate on mortgage loans”, explaining that the blockers’ proposal would oblige banks to do so, contrary to the statements requested by the president of good will. of the Republic, the Prime Minister or other parties.
The setting up of the ‘Living for rent’ programme, so that debtors who cannot meet their bank obligations can keep their family home, and ending foreclosure sales on the first home, are also on the list of BE measures.
According to Mariana Mortágua, with the number of overnight stays in Portugal doubling in a decade due to tourism, this activity today represents “pressure on housing and environmental pressure”, arguing that if it is accepted that there are limits for other sectors, there will be also be for this one.
For example, BE wants to impose a moratorium on new tourist developments until September 2030 and limit local accommodation.
Regarding responding to the “exorbitant prices” of rents because “a salary in Portugal is not enough for a house in Portugal”, the BE coordinator proposes that the tax authorities be empowered to identify vacant houses so that their IMI is exacerbated by provision in the law, as “property funds that maintain vacant buildings must pay an increased IMI”.
Mariana Mortágua proposes recognizing unwritten leases, changing the minimum duration of leases to five years and controlling rents through a “maximum ceiling per zone”.
On the latter, the blogger wanted to “dispel ghosts of freezing rents” because “we are not talking about that here”, but only “to understand that an area must have a stabilized maximum price” and that “there must be equivalence between wages and the price of housing”.
Source: DN
