Of the five groups of measures in Mais Habitação – Increasing the supply of housing; Simplify licensing; Increase rental housing; Fighting speculation; Protect families – only the last and only partially can contribute to the goal. The vast majority of the plan presented after the Council of Ministers of the 16th, which was heavily criticized by the sector, will not contribute to the goal. “Some ideas will even have the opposite effect.” This is guaranteed by Fernando Santo, former governor and president of the Order of Engineers between 2004 and 2010, who was responsible for the Regional Development and Territory Planning Commission, was director of EPUL (Empresa Pública de Urbanização de Lisboa) and president of the Observatório do Real Estate in the city of Lisbon.
“The state should recover the thousands of vacant properties from its assets, which is not envisaged with the minimum of quantitative targets or measures,” says the housing specialist, pointing out that the increase in supply depends on the financing conditions for the purchase of housing and the conditions to justify the investment in the lease. “In the past decade, production was 120,000 fires (12,000/year), which is 14% of the average for the decade from 1991 to 2011 (85,000/year).”
Despite acknowledging “an attempt by the government to try and expedite a very strong need in the country, housing for all,” the current president of engineers, Fernando de Almeida Santos, also finds fault. “The compulsion of renting, the state substituting itself for landlords and exploiters are not measures that captivate those available to rent. The ideology cannot be above the development needs of the country.” In addition, the chairman sees merit in some measures – such as licensing “based on trust in engineers to streamline processes, as long as it is properly defined”. “But there are also those who raise doubts. Under the threat of punishment and with a lack of technical training in quantity in the chambers, in the CCDR, etc., to gain time in the trials, we will end up with many tacit rejections . .”
Gonçalo Byrne also points to problems with the Mais Habitação package, although he recognizes steps in the right direction – from the objectives of the measures to the Ministry of Housing. “Increasing the number of rental properties is extremely important, but is this effect achieved by forced letting? And can this measure not cause undesirable effects in the market, such as a drop in investment and confidence?”, the chairman wonders. of the Order of Architects. And when he praises measures such as mobilizing land or state buildings for affordable rental projects by private individuals and cooperatives, he dare not say whether Mais Habitação can solve the problems of the sector.
“Over the past decade, production was 12,000 homes/year, which is 14% of the average for the decade from 1991 to 2011 (85,000/year),” stresses Fernando Santo, a housing specialist. “The state must recover the thousands of vacant properties of its heritage, which is not considered with the minimum of objectives and measures.”
“We don’t know the assumptions or studies” that support the measures, justifies Gonçalo Byrne, who regrets that the government has not previously cooperated with the National Housing Council. “It will do so now, after the Order of Architects has called for this housing advisory body to be convened.”
“Cuckoo Politics”
Fernando Santo, engineer and professor, is one of the voices most active in recent years warning about the housing crisis, but he does not see this package as a solution to problems. Starting with the measures to simplify licensing, which he sees as utopian – “the statements of the technicians have been around since 1970 and do not solve the complex web of different legal interpretations between technicians of the same municipalities and between them and that of the central administration” – , and the goal in combating speculation, which will not happen without increasing supply. Prices are rising, he says, because of the slowness of processes, which increase costs because building is more expensive, because what already exists on the market often adapts to what is new. “It is not speculation, there are thousands of initiators, investors and owners, including the state, so free offer”. And he gives an example: “When the Chamber of Lisbon sold the land of the old Feira Popular for more than 1400 euros/m2 of building, was it speculative or did it sell for the price that operators are willing to pay?”
In a review by Mais Habitação, the housing specialist recalls that the recent attacks on investments had an impact on rehabilitation, with the number of permits for this type of operation falling by about 10% in one year. That is why he is critical of the measures that seek to restrict local accommodation (AL), which “will kill investment in rehabilitation, harm tourism and the global economy of the sector”. It is not because of the AL that rents are rising: “Some areas that foreigners appreciate in Lisbon and Porto cannot be confused with the other parts of the cities”. That’s why he accuses the government of using the “cuckoo policy” – he puts his eggs in someone else’s nest, rather than making his own so that other birds can take care of them. “The housing minister’s sentence, ‘everyone has the right to live in the most expensive areas of Lisbon’, is a reflection of this housing policy – to which I add, as long as others foot the bill or our taxes.”
“Increasing the number of rental properties is extremely important, but is this effect achieved by forced letting? And can this measure not cause undesirable effects in the market, such as a drop in investment and confidence?”, the chairman wonders. of the Order of Architects, Gonçalo Byrne.
For Fernando Santo, there is no doubt that such measures will have the opposite effect than intended. “Trust, which is the basis of investment in leasing, is completely called into question by forced leasing, the limitation of rents depending on the last applied, the end of the AL and, the greatest absurdity, the final freezing of rents prior to to nineteen ninety”. The Housing Specialist sees this as “the greatest attack on the most disadvantaged age group in society, the elderly, who are trapped in houses in appalling conditions, because they have never had restoration work due to frozen rents”. What appeared to be a protection measure “led to the ruin of the houses” and the tenants were “prisoners”, with no state guaranteeing their relocation to decent housing and with the landlords “waiting their deaths to rehabilitate or sell the ruins of what 50 years ago, buildings were in good condition,” he says. “These are the tents of the 21st century.”
Enrich the debate
However, Fernando Santo does more than point the finger. Starting with three priorities: “Ensuring and promoting confidence in rental investment; simplifying city permits with pragmatic measures, in collaboration with the Association of Municipalities and individually with local authorities; and infrastructure of urban building land with simpler rules for rehabilitation.” Along with these measures, he argues that it would be important to allow public housing to be built on land designated as an agricultural reserve in certain urban areas, as land has a very low price.
Public initiative requires resources that require technical capacity, especially engineers. It is essential that the public engineering career is restored, argues Fernando de Almeida Santos, President of the Engineers.
Fernando Santo, who in 1991 had taken the lead in eradicating 1,200 shacks between Santa Apolónia and Alto de São João – Jorge Sampaio was mayor at the time – recalls that EPUL built more than 300 houses in that area, prompting relocation to this country became possible many of the families. “The rest of the land, which remains unused, would make it possible to build another thousand homes,” he says.
For the President of Architects, it is essential to give priority to reducing bureaucracy and to apply “competitive taxes, with guarantees of stability and predictability”, as well as to find solutions together “with agents and partners in the sector” . The ideas of the President of Engineers go in the same direction, which also points to the need for alignment with professional orders. “The direct promotion of the state should be at the same level as the private sector, everything cannot be supported by the private sector alone. And for public initiative to be, resources are needed that require technical capacity, especially engineers. It is essential that the public career of engineer be reciprocated.”
Source: DN
