87,000 taxpayers have lost rental support since 2023
The number of requests for help by people and families struggling to pay rents has increased by 67% compared to last year, warns consumer association DECO.
Citing numbers for the first quarter of this year, DECO explains that this means it received more than 300 requests by the end of March.
The ‘stress’ on families to meet escalating rental costs has already resulted in people admitting they are cutting back on other essentials, namely food.
DECO describes the situation as one of “desperation”, and has told reporters that much of this results from subsidies under ‘extraordinary rental support’ being cut or reduced, and due to people waiting for a response from the Porta 65 (support) programme.
Picking up on this story today, Diário de Notícias writes that 87,000 taxpayers have lost their rent support since 2023; 46,000 had this subsidy withdrawn “without any prior warning at the beginning of February due to faults and/ or inconsistencies in the declarations made to the Tax Authority (AT)”.
“There are those who are truly desperate and don’t know how they’re going to be able to pay their rents now,” Natália Nunes, coordinator of DECO’s Financial Protection Office, stresses.
“It is food that families cut back on to make ends meet. Many go into arrears or default,” she adds, revealing that debt is another scourge that continues to gain ground: “These people end up resorting to credit cards or personal loans to have the money to pay their rent.”
The situation cannot be ‘laid at the feet’ of the outgoing government (as it only took office in April of last year after eight years under PS Socialists). But it is one of the net results of Portugal’s ‘popularity’ with foreigners, whose arrival in this country has helped push up property and rental costs. ND
Source material: LUSA
