In a statement, councillors Pedro Cegonho, Pedro Anastácio, and Cátia Rosas noted that housing "is the city's biggest challenge" and that pressure from tourism and real estate "has made rents unaffordable for the middle class, favouring gentrification and reducing the 'stock' of permanent housing."

With this proposal, the Socialist councillors intend to ensure that the precautionary suspension of new local lodging registrations "becomes permanent."

To this end, they await the approval of the proposed amendment to the Municipal Local Accommodation Regulation (RMAL), whose public consultation ended on April 15th. In it, the Socialist Party proposed establishing "a citywide ratio of 5%, defending Lisbon residents and the identity of neighbourhoods, as well as prioritizing affordable rentals and local commerce."

The Socialists' proposal comes after the government eliminated, in October 2024, "fundamental instruments of municipal regulation," such as the possibility of re-evaluating registrations and suspending them in municipalities with housing shortages.

For the councillors, this decision paves the way for a new "race" to local accommodation, "worsening the housing crisis in Lisbon."

"The Lisbon City Government has blatantly and repeatedly failed, both in small, day-to-day decisions and in managing the major structural challenges that determine the city's future, lacking the capacity to restore the confidence of Lisbon residents and improve their quality of life," they further argue in the statement.

For the councillors, "Lisbon cannot be held hostage by decisions that place tourism above the right to housing," which is why the City Council must "ensure that housing assets do not continue to be diverted to tourist uses, to the detriment of Lisbon families."