10,000 homes have already been ‘delivered’ according to terms of PRR
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing announced today that 10,000 homes have already been delivered to families under the Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PRR), which aims to deliver another 1,200 this month, ensuring that 8,000 will be made available by December.
In a statement, the ministry reaffirms that the target defined within the scope of the EU-funded PRR, of delivering 26,000 homes to families by June 2026, through the 1st Right – Housing Access Support Program, will be met.
The 1,200 houses to be delivered during the month of July are spread across the municipalities of Alcácer do Sal, Anadia, Lisbon, Moita, Tábua, Melgaço and Funchal (Madeira).
The 1st Right program was integrated into the PRR in 2021, with a target of 26,000 homes being delivered to families ‘experiencing housing indignity’ by 2026.
Delays in implementing the program and the insufficient number of houses to meet the housing needs identified led to its reformulation last year, at the initiative of the Luis Montenegro Government, changing the number of projects and funding sources to ensure that all applications had guaranteed funding.
It was in this context that the Prime Minister promised more than twice as many houses as his predecessor had promised.
The first 26,000 homes must be completed by 2026 and will continue to receive full non-refundable funding, totaling €2.174 billion (PRR and the State Budget). Another approximately 33,000 homes will be funded solely by the State Budget, with a budget of €2.011 billion and a deadline until 2030.
In a statement this month in Vila Real, Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Miguel Pinto Luz, said that the Government was working so that, in September/ October of this year, measures could be presented that address the conclusions of a study by the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU), which indicates that 250,000 homes are not on the sale or rental market.
In the note released today, the Government explains that, to accelerate compliance with the PRR target and unblock applications for the program managed by IHRU, “Terms of Responsibility and Acceptance were implemented with the municipalities.”
In the statement, the Government emphasises that the housing shortage is not limited to the 26,000 homes planned under the PRR – adding that around 59,000 applications were submitted to the 1st Right program, which will be completed by 2030.
The 1st Right – Housing Access Support Program – PRR aims to guarantee decent and adequate housing for the neediest families and the most vulnerable groups, providing for the provision of public housing, through new construction / rehabilitation of existing housing.
In total, the completion of 59,000 homes corresponds to a global investment of €4.2 billion in public housing, of which €2.8 billion will come from the State Budget and €1.4 billion from PRR funds.
The data has been released as demolition operations are taking place in at least two municipalities in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Loures and Amadora).
In Loures, operations are taking place on Talude Militar (68 houses) and in Amadora, notices were posted for the demolition of 16 houses on Estrada Militar (Mina de Água).
Many of those whose shanty dwellings have been destroyed remain living among the detritus, in tents. Some, according to television reports, have even ‘repaired’ parts of their shattered homes, to move back in.
Source material: LUSA
