The Housing Minister said on Friday that the government will “consider” and “evaluate” the proposals of the various entities regarding updating rents for 2024, after promising a “balanced decision” based on “two fundamental principles ”.
“We have a major concern and a major priority and that is to ensure that the housing market remains healthy and stable, and that tenants here do not have to make extra efforts if they are unable to take responsibility for their rent today to take”, Marina Gonçalves told Lusa, in Alcanena (Santarém), in addition to signing protocols with the municipalities of Médio Tejo for the construction of affordable housing.
However, without confirming whether the government will set a limit for updating rental prices in 2024, the minister said that it is with “these properties” that the government will “evaluate the various proposals and suggestions that were on the table” and that is the result of “consultation” with the various entities representing the sector.
“As a result, we will also have to evaluate this work and, if we do, can make a decision regarding the coefficient for 2024,” he stated, after indicating that it is time to “consider” in a balanced way . measures aimed at landlords and tenants in the context of updating rental prices, both in residential construction and in trade and services, included in the same NRAU standard [Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano].
After meeting with associations of tenants, owners, consumers and trade unions, Marina Gonçalves said that “the various concerns” raised “often seem contradictory in themselves”, stating that she “believes” that “there is always a balance in the positions and everything, a balance in the decisions to be made.
“We will obviously not wait until the end of the year, but be sure that we have this time to consider making a balanced decision,” he reiterated.
The Minister of Housing attended today in Alcanena the signing ceremony of several operational agreements for affordable housing projects in Médio Tejo, of which the Intermunicipal Community (CIM) has signed since June a package with the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) that provides for a investment of almost 150 million euros (ME) in 1,132 affordable homes in the 13 municipalities.
In total, celebration agreements were signed today corresponding to 15 properties that will allow the construction or renovation of 226 homes, representing a total investment of 32.4 ME (including VAT), with CIM Médio Tejo today “more than 20% of the original pact ” signed with the IHRU on June 23.
“It is a good example of how in a short time the idea was conceived, the projects we want to implement in Médio Tejo were defined in affordable rent, and the hat protocol was signed, and today a new step has been taken in this operational implementation , of which 20% are already in progress,” stressed Marina Gonçalves, who argued that the national global program, due to be completed by June 2026, “should remain outside the PRR.”
The projects signed with the municipalities of Médio Tejo in the context of affordable income, with the exception of Entroncamento, where the opposition’s proposal to build 100 houses was rejected, are financed with funds from the loan granted in the framework of investments in the public sector. Housing Park the affordable costs of the housing component of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
Source: DN
