Lisbon’s downtown ‘occupied’ by protestors yesterday
In the hideous grip of a heatwave, hundreds managed to take to the streets of downtown Lisbon yesterday in a demonstration for the right to affordable housing. The focus was on getting the country’s government to listen:
“Portugal has the highest house prices in Europe. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) recently considered Portugal to be the country with the least access to housing, so it is very important that we are here on the streets to show that the options put forward by the government – PS, PSD and CDS – are not yet resolving the housing crisis,” Diogo Machado, 24 told Lusa.
“Houses rose in the first quarter of the year, more than they had in many years”, the young man went on. “Housing only becomes accessible when prices decrease.”
As reports have stressed, the majority of people in this crowd were young – the generations that have such difficulty finding somewhere affordable to live.
Leonor Heitor, 21, put the quandary of her peers into clear perspective: “How is it sustainable to live in a country where rents equal the minimum wage?”
Political decision-makers “should implement measures to regulate local accommodation (the high-priced short-term lets that have transformed vast swathes of the country); urban planners should also address the broader urban plan by renovating “so many empty buildings” held by public authorities – which could house “so many people seeking affordable places to live”, she suggested.
Protesters chanted slogans such as “April (the month of the 1974 revolution) demands a home to live in, a home is for living, not for speculation,” and “lower rents, raise wages”, with many explaining that they regularly have to choose between paying rent or eating.
Representatives from neighbourhoods in the Lisbon region, including Mocho and Talude in the municipality of Loures, also attended the demo, emphasising their determination to secure legal recognition for their ‘self-built homes’, often termed ‘shacks’,’, and built out of necessity.
One, whose home is due to be demolished on Monday by Loures City Council, stressed: “We all want to rent a house, but our wages need to increase to cover the costs. A house costs around €800. If our wage is €800, we need to find creative ways to pay for a house,” she said.
Former independent MP Helena Roseta, author of the first Basic Housing Law, passed in 2019, also took part in yesterday’s protest.
“Portuguese authorities deny the right to housing to a huge percentage of young Portuguese people, and when an entire generation lacks housing rights, we compromise the future. The government must get this into its head; it needs to solve the problem,” she said, suggesting the state needs to start offering starter homes for people at affordable prices.
At the end of the demo, near Arco da Rua Augusta, André Escoval, one of the spokespeople for organisers – the Casa para Viver platform and the Porta a Porta movement – highlighted the “great strength” in mobilising people “to defend one of the most important national issues, the right to housing”, noting that, in addition to Lisbon, people organised protests in 11 other cities across the country, and today protests will be taking place in Porto.
“This is a fight that will continue”, he vowed. “The hundreds of people who participated in this demonstration sent a clear message to the government that they will return to the streets after the summer. The 2026 State Budget must include an unequivocal commitment to housing” – including rent regulation and longer contract terms.
source material: LUSA
