The Council of Loulé intends to guarantee, in the «next three to four years», 300 public housing houses in the municipality, which allow not only to respond to the needs of the most disadvantaged population, but also to think of those who, despite having intermediate incomes, they don't earn enough to access an inflated rental market or home loans.
The guarantee was given on Wednesday, the 14th, by Vítor Aleixo, mayor of Loulé, on the sidelines of a presentation of the autarchy's plans, which preceded the laying of the 1st stone of a new neighborhood with affordable and supported rents, which was attended by Marina Gonçalves, Minister of Housing.
«We have a short/medium term horizon – which, I can tell you, seems inescapable to me – of guaranteeing 300 public housing units. We are talking about the next three to four years, so as not to run the risk of failure», said the mayor of Loulé.
And what, exactly, is in the pipeline?
«Concretely, today we have the laying of the first stone of the Clona building, in Loulé. There are, in this first phase, 64 dwellings», revealed Vítor Aleixo.
Earlier, during the session in which some of the projects included in the Loulé Local Housing Strategy were revealed, David Pimentel, councilor for Housing in the Loulé Chamber, specified that 30 of these houses are intended for «affordable renting».
The houses that will be rented in this modality are intended for those who, not having a very low income, find it difficult to secure a house.
«There are many young people at the beginning of their lives who stay longer with their parents because housing prices are unaffordable. They don't have the income to ask for help in terms of credit from a bank and they themselves don't have that money», illustrates Vítor Aleixo.
In this way, «the Chamber also seeks to find answers for people with intermediate incomes: young people at the beginning of life, civil servants who are relocated, such as teachers, doctors, nurses or agents of the security forces, among others».
The remaining 30 dwellings will be awarded under supported leasing «and, in this component, the project is financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The total value of the work is 11,2 million euros, with co-financing of 4,2 million euros», according to the Chamber.
«We are also going to visit five houses, in Salir, which have already been completed, and we signed the deed of consignment of the 1st phase of the work of rehabilitation and expansion of Bairro Operário, officially Bairro Frederico Ulrich. There are 12 houses that will be rehabilitated», added Vítor Aleixo.
In the meantime, «the people who live in these houses have already started to move to apartments that we have been acquiring in the meantime and are empty, waiting to put all this into operation».
Later, in Bairro Operário, another 30 dwellings will be recovered. Likewise, there will be a second phase of construction of Bairro da Clona, with 64 more houses.
Back in Salir, «there are 12 more houses that are in an advanced stage of construction, in addition to the five that have already been built».
Loulé's strategy also provides for housing solutions in other parishes in the municipality, namely in Almancil and Quarteira.
«People sometimes don't realize it, but, back then, we've already made 44 acquisitions on a dispersed basis. Of these 44 houses, 35 have already served to relocate families, within the scope of our Local Housing Strategy», stresses the mayor of Loulé.
A set of houses under the Controlled Costs Housing regime will also be built in the coming years, which are private initiative – not municipal public -, which currently have projects under consideration, some of which have already been approved».
Within a month, «the construction works for around two hundred houses with controlled costs will start simultaneously».
These are the short/medium term plans.
«In the medium/long term, we have another 300 homes in preparation, since we've already acquired land, signed contracts, architectural projects are in preparation, for Boliqueime, for Tôr and here for Loulé», lists Vítor Aleixo.
«There is also a set of dilapidated houses that we acquired in Loulé and Quarteira, which have architectural projects, in some cases completed and, in others, in progress. We are now opening the tenders », he reveals.
By 2030, Loulé's strategy «makes us responsible for finding 1400 housing solutions. According to a study we had carried out, which is now being updated, with that number of houses, Loulé's problems were reasonably resolved. But that study dates from 2015», so the situation may have changed.
This study includes public municipal initiative housing, with the support provided by the Government, «such as the PRR and the 1st Law», but also private initiatives, under a Controlled Costs Housing regime.
Marina Gonçalves, Minister of Housing, welcomed what she considers "the realization of what is a full right of people, access to housing".
«The public school, the National Health Service and public housing must be the pillars of our society. A better society is also built with more housing and more dignified housing», concluded Marina Gonçalves.
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