Aware of the government’s and the PSD’s housing proposals, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had already said that “there is room for talks” between the two major parties. And, after criticizing the government for not listening to the targeted sectors or municipalities before defining the Mais Habitação program, This Wednesday, the PS gave a signal in that direction, by making all projects submitted by the Social Democrats in Parliament viable (by abstention). The measures are now being discussed in the parliamentary committee, where the executive diplomas will be added in a few weeks.
But if the vote indicates there is room for dialogue, Wednesday’s parliamentary debate scheduled by the PSD was marked by a heated exchange of criticism, with the largest opposition party accusing the government of doing nothing to respond in seven years on the housing problem. An example of “failure” and “incompetence”, in the words of the Social Democratic deputy Márcia Passos, who accused the Socialists of “misleading the Portuguese”: “It was not in the PS program that they would end to local accommodation”. For the PSD, the Mais Habitação program is an “attack on private initiative” and will ultimately result in “less housing available” and “more expensive”.
In the opposite direction, and despite admitting the convergence of some proposals, the socialist Maria Begonha accused the PSD of not proposing anything to combat speculation in the housing market: “There are certainly convergences that allow dialogue to continue, but the PSD’s proposals lack moderation and balance.”
Later it would be the socialist parliamentary leader, Eurico Brilhante Dias, who expressed his desire for a “big consensus” around answers to the housing crisis.
In a debate that turned out to be a preliminary discussion of the executive’s housing plan, criticism from the right centered on the government’s proposal to allow forcible renting of vacant homes. “This is typical of a PREC government,” André Ventura criticized, pointing to what he said the “biggest attack on private property in Portugal”. A solution to what is “one of the country’s biggest housing crises in history”? “The way is to cut taxes,” Ventura defended.
For the Liberal Initiative, Carlos Guimarães Pinto pointed batteries to the same degree: “How can they have the courage to propose the expropriation of private buildings when, at the same time, there are state buildings in the same areas that have been abandoned for decades, without even being inventoried?”. For the IL delegate, the “main housing problem” in Portugal is “the lack of construction” and the solution is necessarily “building more houses”.
An argument that would later be refuted by PCP and PS, who argued that the number of dwellings in Portugal is substantially higher than the number of households.
The forced leasing would also be endorsed by Inês Sousa Real, from the PAN: “There is no point in demanding of the private sector what the government is not doing”.
Criticism of the PS program was also present on the left, but for entirely different reasons. “For the government and for the right, housing remains a commodity and not a constitutional right,” said Communist deputy Bruno Dias, who insisted that PS and PSD proposals are nothing more than “a competition of ideas for tax exemptions for major economic groups and real estate funds”. Instead, measures to combat the housing crisis should take place, for example by repealing the current rent law, he argued.
The issue of tax benefits was also raised by BE. “What did they think would happen when they promoted Portugal as a real estate haven, when they road shows in Russia for visa goldwhile they were guaranteed tax-free for non-residents?”, asked Mariana Mortágua, defending that PS and PSD have “exactly the same answers” to the housing problem. And for BE, the path should be the exact opposite: ending tax breaks and limiting incomes. Rui Tavares, for Livre, left a warning: “Unless measures are taken on a large scale, the housing problem will get much worse.”
In response, the housing minister, Marina Gonçalves, disputed that the government had done nothing so far in terms of housing, that the “Mais Habitação” program is an “addition” to long-term programs already being implemented, as the 1st Dto. or the mobilization of vacant state properties. With regard to forced leasing in particular, the minister states that there is nothing new in this proposal, which is currently provided for in the legislation.
Among the PSD proposals now discussed in the specialty, there is the introduction of a subsidy to support renting, support for the purchase of a home by young people, namely through state guarantees, or the reduction of VAT on build up to the 6%. A proposal from IL and a proposal from Livre were also approved. There were five proposals along the way (two from Chega, one from Livre, one from BE and one from PCP). Interestingly, the abstention of the PS, which made the proposals of the PSD viable and which was maintained in the other initiatives, ultimately dictated the leadership of the projects of the former partners in the government, as the right voted against.
Housing returns to the Council of Ministers
Part of the measures for the residential area, announced by the government in February, will be returned to the Council of Ministers this Thursday, after having been in public consultation. This is the case for the decrees relating to the support of housing loans and rents.
The bills stipulating, among other things, the forced rental of vacant housing or new restrictions on Local Housing will only go to the Council of Ministers (after the Assembly of the Republic) on March 30, as the government has decided to extend the public consultation period, at the request of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP).
Last week, in an interview with RTP and Público, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa left the Executive with a barb (see more news on page 6), given that the specific texts of the proposals were only released this month: “Give seven days to wait for the diplomas after seven years is something out of this world”.
Source: DN
