The Lisbon Municipal Assembly (AML) rejected a Livre recommendation on Tuesday to strengthen support for vulnerable households in municipal housing, including single-parent families, households with children, older people and people with disabilities.
The proposal asked Lisbon City Council to assess the social impact of a housing eviction before making a decision, prioritise ways to regularise residents’ situations where possible, provide effective assistance to households facing social emergencies, and strengthen support for residents in municipal neighbourhoods. Livre municipal deputy João Monteiro said the recommendation also highlighted the role of Gebalis, the company that manages municipal housing, and the city’s housing services.
The proposal was defeated by votes from the right-wing majority, comprising the PSD, CDS-PP, IL and Chega. The PS, PCP, BE, PEV, PAN and Livre voted in favour.
CDS-PP’s Francisco Camacho said the recommendation relied largely on slogans with little practical or operational basis. He argued that families’ vulnerability should not mean abandoning clear rules for municipal housing, adding that exceptional regularisations could affect people who follow the rules or are waiting for housing, including other families in similarly difficult circumstances.
PSD representative Sofia Vala Rocha accused Livre of showing “Olympic contempt” for the democratic rule of law. She said the municipal housing stock should not be managed using merely administrative criteria, and questioned how Gebalis could manage tens of thousands of homes without clear standards. IL’s Angélique da Teresa called the proposal “sordid” and said Gebalis already does what it recommends.
PCP representative Natacha Amaro argued that Lisbon’s housing difficulties made the proposed safeguards necessary. She cited a widowed young mother and her two children who were evicted from municipal housing in Bairro do Condado, as well as around 100 residents of Pátio da Quintinha facing eviction proceedings.
Amaro said that in March, after an initial eviction threat, around 50 residents met with municipal services and Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas, of the PSD. According to her, Moedas assured them there would be no evictions and that the municipality would not abandon them.
PS representative Carla Rothes said Livre’s concerns addressed urgent problems facing the city. She pointed to worsening hardship among families, rising poverty and social exclusion, insufficient support for older people, and the weakening of institutions that provide social work in Lisbon’s neighbourhoods.
Sources: Observador.