With Portugal’s housing crisis now taking centre stage, President of CHEGA, André Ventura, has announced that his party will present an “emergency legislative package” for housing – accepting that it will imply a budget deficit to succeed.
At a press conference at CHEGA’s national headquarters in Lisbon today, Ventura argued for the need for an agreement between the parties to approve measures that can “truly address the issues that matter regarding housing in Portugal and the major problems” of recent years.
CHEGA will propose “the reassessment of tax benefits for those who are in Portugal with a lot of money to buy houses”, a review of the Municipal Property Tax (IMI, or more commonly known as rates) and a 50% increase in personal income tax deductions relating to rent and mortgage payments
Asked whether implementing these proposals could jeopardise the (tiny) budget surplus forecast for next year, André Ventura acknowledged that “it is worth taking the risk” if it means an improvement in housing conditions for Portuguese people.
“There is no point in having a country with healthy public finances and poor people,” he said. “Honestly, there is no point in having a country with balanced accounts when people face uncertain bills every month. I think that is the calculation we have to make”.
Asked whether this package means that the agreement with the PSD to amend the rental law is no longer valid, Ventura stressed that what has been agreed is a set of changes that the government will have to make during the detailed committee debate – and that this process has not yet moved forward.
“So far we have had no indication that the government wanted to correct this, but the process has not yet begun either”, he said, emphasising that if the executive “does not correct” the legislation according to CHEGA’s designs, the amendments to the rental law “will not pass”.
Regarding housing demonstrations and the new rental law proposed by the government, the CHEGA leader predicted that if nothing is done the protests will escalate “with more force, more determination, more ambition” – with the participation of other organisations, including political parties.
“It could cease to be a demonstration or a group of minority demonstrations and become genuine cries of dissatisfaction across society involving associations, parties, movements”, he warned, stressing that “CHEGA will fight for housing if the housing problem is not resolved”.
Surprisingly perhaps, nothing has been said of the ‘housing fix’ presented recently by a former mayor, and already underway in the municipality of Barreiro.
Source material: LUSA
Natasha Donn
Journalist for the Portugal Resident.