The government says it has the notion that the housing is the big barrier for Higher Education students and to have adopted immediate measures and also to «structurally counteract the problem».
Speaking to the Lusa agency, Pedro Nuno Teixeira, Secretary of State for Higher Education, acknowledged that «the matter is of concern to the Government», which has reinforced the funds for the National Housing Plan, and should implement 447 million euros from the Recovery and Resilience Plan ( PRR) in several projects that are under construction and in the contracting phase.
«By the summer of 2026 we will have doubled the student accommodation capacity to 28 beds», said Pedro Nuno Teixeira, adding that nine student residences will be ready this year, in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Torres Vedras, Batalha and Cascais, representing, together, around 1.100 beds.
The projects, he said, rely on the collaboration of municipalities, higher education institutions, public companies and the social sector.
Considering also that it is urgent to respond to the question of student accommodation in the immediate plan, to mitigate the problem, the Secretary of State for Higher Education pointed out the reinforcement or increase of the accommodation complement that is paid to scholarship students, who are the “most vulnerable” in the face of obstacles posed by accommodation.
According to Pedro Nuno Teixeira, this complement was increased twice last year and this year it will be increased again, depending on the location, noting that Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Funchal are more expensive cities in this area.
In addition to these measures, the Secretary of State indicated that protocols have been established with public, private and social sector entities to "increase supply capacity" for scholarship students, with the aim that they pay only what they receive.
There are, he pointed out, protocols with Movijovem, with Montepio, with the Hospitality Association and even with Dioceses to allow the exploration of spaces that can serve Higher Education students.
«We have to look for all the ways to mitigate the problem», advanced Pedro Nuno Teixeira, warning that, without wanting to devalue the subject, that the question of student accommodation is today a “transversal” problem in European countries, and at a national level it is linked to the general problem of housing in Portugal.
Saying that there are «structural responses and also immediate responses» through the contractual offer to scholarship students, the official said that the announcement of the result of the competition for access to higher education was brought forward to this weekend to give «more time» to students to find accommodation solutions.
Students applying for Higher Education who are also candidates for a scholarship also have the possibility of having the provisional value of the scholarship already paid in September, giving "greater security and predictability" to students and their families, said the Secretary of State.
The average price of rooms and apartments for students rose 10,5% in the last year, exceeding 400 euros in Lisbon and Porto, according to the latest report by the Student Accommodation Observatory published at the beginning of the month.
According to the analysis based on more than 20 real estate portals and 'websites' of agencies in the sector on the private offer in the 20 district capitals, there were 2.892 rooms available.
According to data, cited today in the newspaper Público, in most districts the rise was greater than 10,5% of the national average, with increases of 33% as in the case of Portalegre.
The exception goes to the districts of Beja, Bragança and Porto, whose increase was below 10%.
However, renting a room in Porto costs, on average, 425 euros per month and in Lisbon 450 euros.
Setúbal with 350 euros, Faro com 339 or Aveiro with 320 are other cities where accommodation costs are high.
Some academic associations heard by Público said they had received reports of very high values "practiced in the regulated market", where houses and rooms are rented without receipts".
In addition to the prices charged, another problem reported by students is the need to pay two or three rents in advance.
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