Portugal’s Infrastructure and housing Minister Miguel Pinto Luz has invited opposition parties, particularly Livre, to negotiate “seriously” over the country’s proposed rent law. He said he saw no reason for Chega to abandon its written agreement with the government, arguing that the party’s four main demands were compatible with the executive’s priorities.

Pinto Luz made the remarks during a parliamentary hearing on the 2027 state budget, as lawmakers examined housing measures. Responding to Livre MP Jorge Pinto, the minister said the government was always willing to discuss the party’s proposals and referred to the previous adoption of a Livre proposal establishing a Housing Emergency Fund.

Livre asked whether the government would consider an additional property tax focused on vacant homes that could be used for public housing, changes to tax policies that it says are pushing up prices, and the creation of a public housing fund. The party wants to double the share of public housing from 2% to 4% over a decade.

Pinto Luz said such a fund already exists and that increasing public housing to 4% was already a government ambition. He said public construction funding had risen to €317 million, nearly three times its previous level, and that €11.116 billion had been earmarked for construction and rehabilitation through 2030. The minister also said funding was planned for 47,000 homes not covered by the Recovery and Resilience Plan in 2027.

However, he acknowledged that funding projects did not mean that all the homes would be delivered the following year. A successful application was not the same as a construction project, and a completed project was not necessarily an occupied home, he said.

The debate also included sharp exchanges over a demonstration in Lisbon. Chega MP Francisco Gomes criticised protesters and said the housing policy should be defined by parliament rather than by what he described as violent and anarchist groups. He also argued that “remigration” was an answer to the housing crisis.

Pinto Luz avoided directly commenting on the remarks, saying he did not want to contribute to dividing the country and was seeking consensus. Jorge Pinto, who had attended the demonstration, responded by linking police action against protesters to rising housing costs and what he called the use of force against peaceful demonstrators.

The minister also criticised the Socialist Party, accusing it of using housing for political purposes and recalling a previous commitment by former Prime Minister António Costa to guarantee decent housing for all Portuguese people by 2024.

Pinto Luz said the government was accelerating the transfer to municipalities of around 83,000 public properties to increase the supply of affordable housing. He said the inventory included both urban and rural assets, with about 30,000 classified as rural and therefore unsuitable for housing.

He added that Portugal would need to build more homes and estimated that annual construction could reach between 70,000 and 80,000 homes from 2031. The minister stressed that the housing crisis could not be solved by the private sector alone and said social support would be needed in the meantime. He also stated that the government had completed the Recovery and Resilience Plan with 32,000 homes delivered and had supported more than 215,000 beneficiaries.

Sources: Observador.