By Andrea Hargraves 
Measure aims to support people who do not meet the criteria for accessing subsidized rental, but who are also unable to pay market rent.
Almada City Council is preparing to launch the Rental Support Program, which is aimed at people who do not meet the requirements to apply for municipal housing, but who find it difficult to access the private rental market.
The goal is for the new program to act as a “supplement to the income”, explained councilor Felipe Pacheco, responsible for housing, during the city council meeting held on August 7, which approved the proposal aimed at starting procedures for the preparation of this regulation.
In practice, this measure is intended as a “middle ground for those on waiting lists for municipal housing, who will thus be able to access market income through the subsidies provided by the municipality,” added the mayor, arguing that “the housing problem we are experiencing In our municipality it is being solved in several ways: in construction, rehabilitation, but also with proposals to subsidize rents.”
The suggestion “comes late,” notes BE
The proposal was supported by all the political forces represented in the Almada Chamber. Noting that this is a “historic proposal by the left bloc”, Joanna Murtagua notes, however, that the measure “comes late on the problem”.
“I would like to take this opportunity to wish it a better end than the youth rental subsidy proposal unanimously approved at the meeting on February 7, 2022, proposed by BE, which fell on deaf ears and was never mentioned again.” Since then, this is “the only time we’ve heard of rent subsidies again,” noted the crippled mayor.
In response, council member Felipe Pacheco stressed that future regulation could “reserve a percentage of the candidates considered for a youth audience”. In this way, what would be a measure of “youth rental subsidy would be a perfect fit for this program of rental subsidy,” he said. “In general, all age groups are currently having a problem with access to rent, and it is clear that young people are also,” noted the consultant, who “this is a perfect opportunity for us to come up with a document together that can enlist the support of everyone.”
It costs 11% more to rent a house in Almada today than it did last year
