The Municipality of Amadora, in the district of Lisbon, signed this Thursday the first financing contract with the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) that provides for the rehabilitation of 306 homes in Urbanização Casal da Boba.
The agreement was signed this afternoon in a ceremony attended by the Mayor of Amadora, Carla Tavares (PS), and the President of the IHRU Board of Directors, Isabel Dias.
The first financing contract is at stake, worth six million eurosbetween the Câmara da Amadora and the IHRU, within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Program (PRR) for the implementation of the Local Housing Strategy (ELH) of the municipality.
Today we sign the first financing contract for the rehabilitation of 306 homes. We are talking here about major interventions in the Casal da Boba urbanization. The contests have already been held and we are already at a very advanced stage”, Carla Tavares told the Lusa agency.
In total, the municipality of Amadora will benefit from a financing of 67 million euros to “respond to the housing deficit” of 2,076 households and 6,295 people by 2026.
“For many years we made a very lonely path to eliminate the entire set of unworthy housing. Today it is very important to have that financial leverage and to feel that public housing policies have gained importance within the government framework”, the mayor stressed.
Also regarding the housing area, Carla Tavares said that the Amadora City Council will discuss and vote on a proposal at the next executive meeting to integrate Estrada dos Salgados into the public domain, thus allowing the construction of cheap houses.
“On Estrada dos Salgados, the IHRU will develop affordable housing. We understand that it is a very important area. There will be 490 affordable housing units. We want to create conditions for the retention of young people”, he underlined.
The problem of the housing deficit in the neighborhoods of Cova da Moura and Encosta da Brandoa, considered by Carla Tavares as “great challenges”, is the solution to the problem of the housing deficit outside the scope of PRR financing and without a time horizon, with the municipality “working on the processes” .
To solve the housing shortage of some six thousand residents of Cova da Mourain the parish of Águas Livres, the municipality will have to acquire (private) land, prepare the procedures and carry out new constructions.
Within the framework of the New Generation Housing Policies (NGPH), according to the Government, the program of the I Law, which aims to promote housing solutions for the most needy families and without housing alternative, foresees a total investment of 700 million euros until 2024, destined for non-reimbursable contributions.
In force since June 2018, with the ordinance that regulates it published in August of that year, the program of the 1st Law is part of the first objective of the NGPH of the Government of “to respond to families living in a situation of serious housing shortage”which provides for the granting of public support to “facilitate access to adequate housing for people who live in unworthy housing situations and who do not have the economic capacity to find a housing solution on the market.”
A large part of the investments planned in the field of Local Housing Strategies can be executed with Recovery and Resilience Plan funds (RRP).
The funds allocated to housing in the PRR will allow 100% non-refundable financing of 26,000 homes under the 1st Right programme. To do this, they must be completed by the end of the first half of 2026, the execution period of the PRR.
Source: Observadora
