About two hundred local accommodation (AL) owners gathered today at Parliament, in Lisbon, in protest against the package of measures of the Mais Habitação program that will be voted on in the afternoon.
“This protest serves to show the Government that the owners will not give up and will do everything to ensure that the measures do not come into force”, explained to the Lusa agency the president of the Local Accommodation Association in Portugal (ALEP), Eduardo Miranda.
At the basis of the protests is a set of measures approved by the Government with the aim of responding to the difficulties faced by families in accessing or maintaining housing, and which has had opposition from local accommodation owners.
“We are in favor of housing, but AL is not the solution” is one of the slogans chanted by the demonstrators, who display posters with appeals such as “Don't kill local housing”.
The rally, which started at 12:00 am, was attended by representatives of the political parties Iniciativa Liberal, PSD and Chega.
The final Mais Housing law proposal will be voted on today in the Assembly of the Republic.
In February, the Council of Ministers approved this set of measures, applied in a context of accelerated rise in interest rates, as well as rises in rents and house prices.
Among what will now be approved in Parliament, where the PS has an absolute majority, is the creation of an extraordinary contribution of 15% on the AL in areas of greater urban pressure and lack of housing, justified by the need to compensate for the negative impact that this activity ends up generating.
On the other hand, holders of inactive AL registrations must provide proof of continued activity, within two months of the entry into force of the new law.
In case of non-compliance, registrations will be cancelled, by decision of the mayor of the territorially competent Municipal Council.
According to the new legislation, the owners will be heard in advance about new local accommodations that want to be installed in buildings intended for housing, and this installation must be unanimously approved, while the issuance of new AL registrations outside the territories of the interior of the country will be suspended.
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