The Associação Lisbonense de Prietários (ALP) considers that the Government’s Affordable Leasing Program (PAA) “is far from meeting the objectives” declared when it was created, in 2019.
In a statement, the owners of the capital indicate that they were analyzing data from the National Institute of Statistics and concluded that, during the year 2022, “the PAA only managed to capture just over 400 accommodation units,” which represents 0.1% of the total lease contracts????????
This figure is “disheartening”, they qualify, pointing out that it “contrasts with the more than 45,000 new lease contracts that were signed in the country”, only in the first half of the year.
For the association, the figure reveals “the failure of the ‘New Generation of Housing Policies’, which the Government presented in June 2019.”
At that time, ALP recalls, the Government assumed that, as of mid-2021, the PAA would capture 20% of all new leases and contract renewals.
“Does this mean that In the first half of 2022 alone, according to the goals set by the Government, more than nine thousand affordable lease contracts should have been signed — and no less than four hundred that could have been signed by November (this is based on the housing data registered in the Housing Portal)”, they compare.
The association also cites data that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing released on the PAA (referring to April 2022), according to which 868 affordable lease contracts have been signed since 2019.
“Although these leases [previstos] have not been implemented, the State does not use these funds to support needy tenants, young people and middle-class families who need a rental option in the market, without also presenting another solution to the housing crisis”, they denounce.
Faced with this scenario, the owners assume that they have a “lack of confidence” in the Government and criticize “the legislative and fiscal instability that has guided the governance of the last six years.”
In the opinion of the owners, “the lease has been the victim of successive modifications that unequivocally result in damages and limitations to the rights of the owners.”
At the same time, they criticize “the unjustified extension of the rent freeze, which should have ended in 2017”, and “the limitation imposed on rent updating in 2023”.
But, they stress, “it’s not just a lack of trust” that affordable leasing isn’t working as advertised. “The program is extremely bureaucratic and inefficient,” they add.
The association denounces that the Government does not listen to the representative structures of the housing and rental sector and says that it is still waiting for “a response to the 17 proposals that it sent to the guardianship.”
Source: Observadora
