Earlier this month, the European Commission made several recommendations to Portugal to curb the housing access crisis, such as rent control and new limits on Local Accommodation. So far, the new government led by Luís Montenegro has not yet responded to the housing advice from Europe. But the Government Program has revealed a position that goes against some solutions suggested by Brussels.

In an analysis of the Portuguese economy, the European Commission considered that the measures that have been implemented by successive governments in Portugal have not been effective in solving the structural problem of the housing access crisis. And that is why it left a set of “lasting measures” to control the rapid increase in house prices, such as rent control and greater regulation of Local Accommodation, as reported by idealista.

The Government Program reveals, from the beginning, that rent control is out of the question for the new AD government, pointing out alternatives: “Public intervention aimed at stabilisation should be through subsidising tenants who need it, and not through generalised “punishment” of owners, which would be paid for by everyone in the long term”, the document reads.

Furthermore, Montenegro wants to “restore confidence in rent, after the previous [socialist] government’s wrong solutions of rent control or forced rent, which only contributed to increasing rents and reducing the number of houses on the market”, the publication also states.

Local Accommodation

Regarding the greater regulation of Local Accommodation also recommended by Brussels, the Government says nothing in its program. However, it is worth remembering that in his first term, Montenegro revoked all the measures implemented with António Costa’s Mais Habitação program that brought more regulation to the sector and transferred these powers to the city councils.

One of the main goals of the AD Government is to build 59,000 public housing units by 2030 – 26,000 of which are part of the Recovery and Resilience Plan. However, Brussels says it has “serious doubts” about Portugal’s ability to build these units by the deadline, which ends in 2026.

On the other hand, there is a measure suggested by the European Commission that is in line with the Government Program. Brussels says that empty, vacant or underused housing units must be assessed and made available, both in the public and private sectors. And the AD Executive wants to inject unoccupied or underused public housing into the market, also in partnership with private entities.