The mayor of Santiago do Cacém, Álvaro Beijinha, in the district of Setúbal, defended this Thursday that it is necessary to find solutionsbetween the Government and the municipalities, to respond to the lack of housing on the Alentejo coast.
“I am arguing that it is necessary to evaluate this situation [para que]between the Government and the municipalities, solutions are found, because the municipalities do not have the financial conditions for the construction of houses on the scale that is necessary”, he warned, in statements to the Lusa agency.
The mayor said that the municipalities “I want to be part of the solution” and gave the example of the municipality of Santiago do Cacém, “which has municipal land” that can be “a first point for solving the problem”.
For this there must be “financing lines, either for construction or rehabilitation, as is currently being done for the [programa] Law 1”, which allow answers to be given regarding housing, he reinforced.
In his opinion, the investments announced for the industrial and port complex of Sines, neighboring Santiago do Cacém, will lead to a “brutal increase in the need for housing“once they leave”attract thousands of workersthat it will resort to “the rental market”.
This “is an issue that worries us a lot because it also affects the population of our municipality, which are the young people who want to emancipate themselves, go to the rental market and there are no houses for them,” he warned.
For this reason, he defended that, in terms of housing, one must “be a look at this region” on the Alentejo coast, which includes the municipalities of Alcácer do Sal, Grândola, Santiago do Cacém and Sines (Setúbal) and Odemira, in the district of Beja.
Despite not having a diagnosis on the ground that would indicate the number of houses needed to face the expected increase in population, Álvaro Beijinha recognized that it will always be the same “Out of time“.
“For what the needs are, we don’t have [esse diagnóstico] done and, if we did, tomorrow would be Out of time“, considered the mayor, taking into account “what is happening now” and “what is expected to happen in the near future” in this region.
On the other hand, he warned, this situation will also worsen.the chronic problem” of homelessness for the establishment of health professionals in the Alentejo coast.
“It is something very worrying not only for health professionals, but for the population in general, because in addition to the heavy investments planned, [assistimos] to the very important growth of the tourism sector”, he argued.
“Real estate speculation has been rising a lot, especially in the rental market, which practically does not exist and what little there is” is made available “at prices absolutely unaffordable for nurses and even for doctors themselves,” he concluded.
Source: Observadora
