Porto Mayor Rui Moreira defended that the government’s program for more housing needs to be “refined”, as the package is “to a large extent” unrealizable and “falls far short of its intended results”. .
‘The plan must be tightened up and purged of unrealistic or manifestly harmful measures’says Rui Moreira about the participation of the municipality of Porto in the public consultation of the Mais Habitação program, which will run until the 13th.
In the document, which Lusa had access to on Monday, Rui Moreira argues that “a large part” of the proposed measures are “unrealizable” and “fall far short of the intended results”. “More than the risk that the package is unimportant, the more statistical and centralistic measures will have serious consequences for the housing problem in Portugal.he says, citing the example of the ban on new Local Accommodation (AL) licenses, forced rentals and the limit on rents being updated.
However, given that “measures such as support for rents and credits are to be welcomed, or the strengthening of tax incentives for affordable rents, Rui Moreira says that the state is “too proactive in preparing itself as a landlord, guarantor, creditor, intermediary , collector and builder”.
“Given the state’s administrative inefficiencies and financial shortcomings, it is unbelievable that it is capable of playing so many instruments at once”he says, still criticizing the fact that local authorities were not consulted about the program. “It seems equally unusual to us that municipalities are now only aware of the plan through a generic ‘Powerpoint’ and loose statements from political leaders to the media”he says, defending that during the public consultation it was imperative that the information on the plan was “already detailed, solid and structured” and that this “is not happening”.
Nevertheless, the document lists a number of considerations and suggestions that emerged from the February 23 hearing of the Municipal Council for Tourism and Economy. Among the considerations, Rui Moreira says it is necessary to increase the supply of housing “in all segments”, arguing that the solution to the shortage and cost of housing “cannot be solved by moderating demand”. “That would undermine the attractiveness of cities and the economic growth fostered by high-value-added activity without solving or even mitigating the problem of the lack of affordable housing. It was, excuse the expression, throwing the boy out with the bathwater”refers.
With regard to public housing, Rui Moreira believes that the state should diversify investments without “ideological pruritus” to align strategies with private strategies, bet “intensively” on affordable rent and “generalize” the “right of preemption”, a tool that it defends using “more often” to ensure “market transparency”, but also to increase the “stock” of houses and help tenants in fragile situations.
The mayor also argues that the best way to “reduce vacant housing for speculative purposes” is not to put homes on the market by “appropriating the use of private property”, but by raising taxes, IMT and IMI raise, a tax he says could be applied to land, penalizing the wastelands of cities.
Among the various suggestions, the mayor proposes that municipalities exercise mediation powers between property owners and tenants, and that they develop initiatives to support construction in the ‘build to rent’ model. As for the AL, Moreira sees the ban on new permits as “drastic and premature”, arguing that university residences can be a “great means of reducing pressure on housing” as these properties “populate the tourist offer” in the summer months. could strengthen”. .
The mayor also says it is necessary to review the operation of ‘golden’ visas, arguing that, “instead of their pure and simple elimination, it would be more helpful to target the approval of ‘golden’ visas to investments that promote a minimum number of accommodations intended for affordable rent”.
The Mais Habitação program has been approved by the Council of Ministers and will be publicly discussed until March 13. The proposals will be returned to the Council of Ministers for final approval on March 16, after which some measures still need to be approved. Assembly of the Republic.
Source: DN
