Chega’s leader announced on Monday that he will propose to parliament a program to boost housing construction for ten years, with the aim of increasing current construction levels by 150%, especially in major cities.
At the end of a party action in Lisbon, in the Almirante Reis district (parish of Arroios), announced as a visit to an area with homeless people, André Ventura said that today he wanted to highlight these citizens, inside most of the homes, of which the number would have increased by 1000% since the beginning of the century.
“Chega will propose a major program to encourage construction in Portugal for ten years, reducing taxes on building materials and drastically cutting bureaucracy,” he announced.
When asked if these measures will have any effect on the homeless population, Chega’s leader answered in the affirmative.
“If we build more, this increase in construction will not only apply to middle-class houses, but also to so-called social housing. If we succeed in increasing the building level by about 150%, especially in the big cities, we will also have the space at the municipal and national level to allocate houses to people who do not have the minimum income,” he defended.
There were few homeless people Ventura found on the street in the middle of the afternoon, after talking to members of the residents’ association, in addition to several tents set up along Avenida Almirante Reis (which will be mostly occupied at night).
When asked if this move is part of Chega’s larger social concern, Ventura says the party is “where it has always been”.
“We have to distinguish between homeless people and subsidized people. We have always had great concern for those who are unable to support themselves and their families, which is different from those who can work and do not want to work,” he said. .
Ventura pointed out that, contrary to what happened in the 2000s, many of today’s homeless people “work and cannot afford a home” or others are people “with no conditions to work.”
“Chega remains steadfast in its relentless fight against subsidy dependency,” he stressed.
Regarding the construction stimulus program, which he promises to present in parliament in September, Ventura defended that it should be financed from funds that already exist in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, saying the European Commission was sensitive for housing problems in other Member States. it would be possible to reallocate resources.
For the leader of Chega, the increase in the construction sector could be “the first point of consensus” that the President of the Republic is asking for for this sector – in the message in which he vetoed part of the “More housing package from the government, which will be reconfirmed in parliament – and lament that the executive’s approach was “anything but consensual”.
“No miracles will happen unless we occupy people’s homes in a socialist way, which I don’t think any modern country wants. We only have one solution: build more”he said, suggesting, for example, that the government could provide specific tax incentives for the construction of university residences.
André Ventura acknowledged that the problem is complex, as the downturn in construction was also related to the covid-19 pandemic, war or lack of manpower.
“There are no magic solutions, the problem cannot be solved overnight, but the solution is to build more, not occupy, neither raise taxes nor destroy local housing. This is where we radically deviate from the left,” he stressed. .
Source: DN
