According to Isabel Ferreira, the homes will be built on land owned by IHRU in Quinta da Braguinha, with construction fully funded by the institute. The project forms part of the municipality's local housing strategy, which includes affordable rentals and construction at controlled costs.

“I met with the president of IHRU (…) and what was agreed was that construction would proceed on 40 housing units for affordable housing,” she said.

The mayor also stressed that construction is expected to begin “by the end of the year”.

“I think this will make a difference, considering the demand we have and the registrations we have,” she highlighted.

In Bragança, renting a one-bedroom apartment can cost €600, compared with around €300 six years ago.

The municipality is also renovating six houses in Bragança's citadel for social housing, at a cost of approximately €900,000. This investment will also be funded by IHRU, which will cover 60%, and Norte 2030, which will provide the remaining 40%.

Bragança Town Council will also renovate 16 housing units in Bairro da Previdência and eight in Bairro da Estacada for disadvantaged families. The projects will be submitted to Norte 2030 for funding, although the investment amount has not yet been determined.

The mayor expressed regret that these construction projects had not received funding through the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), due to the failure of the previous municipal administration to fulfil its commitments.

“When the PRR was in place, municipalities signed several agreements with IHRU linked to their local housing strategies. In Bragança's case, several commitments were made at the time but were not carried out, including this IHRU construction project, the six houses in the citadel and Bairro da Previdência. They were all expected to receive PRR funding, but not a single cent of PRR funding was received,” she criticised.

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