Former Portugal Government building to become 90 homes

A former government building in Lisbon is set to be turned into around 90 homes, most of them one-bedroom properties aimed at public-sector workers struggling to find affordable accommodation in the capital.

By Kam Heskin, in News, Housing · 24 Sep 2026, 15:03 · 0 Comments

Lisbon City Council plans to spend more than €20 million converting the former Presidency of the Council of Ministers building in Campo de Ourique.

The property, on Rua Professor Gomes Teixeira, is being transferred by the State to the municipality through a surface rights agreement. The details are currently being finalised with Estamo, the public company responsible for managing State property.

Once that is complete, the council intends to turn the building into what vice-president Gonçalo Reis described as “casas de função”, or housing provided for people who need to live in Lisbon because of their work.

The roughly 90 homes will be mainly T1 apartments and are expected to go primarily to professionals working in areas such as healthcare, education and the security services.

More than €20 million to convert the building

The project was discussed at a meeting of the Lisbon Municipal Assembly, where Reis said the council expects the conversion to require an investment of more than €20 million.

There is no construction date yet.

Housing councillor Vasco Moreira Rato said the timetable depends on the surface rights transfer being formally completed, which has not happened yet.

Plans for the building first emerged in May, when the government announced it would hand over the former headquarters for housing rather than sell it.

At the time, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said the property was worth an estimated €25 million but argued that its social value would be greater if it was used to provide affordable homes.

The government said the building would remain exclusively dedicated to affordable, supported or controlled-cost housing for a minimum of 25 years, with priority given to public administration workers including teachers, healthcare professionals and members of the security forces.

The project now gives a clearer idea of what that will look like: around 90 homes in a building that, until recently, housed part of the machinery of government.

Exactly when the first residents will be able to move in, however, is still to be decided.