The final bill for Mais Habitação will be voted on in parliament today, with the Socialist majority ensuring that the program is approved, but without being able to eliminate criticism and controversy over some of the planned measures.
The first steps towards the implementation of this package were taken on February 16, when the Council of Ministers approved a set of measures aimed at addressing the increasing difficulties of families in accessing or maintaining housing, in a context of accelerating interest rate hikes, as well as rising rents and house prices.
Before referring the proposal to parliament, the Government put Mais Habitação in public consultation, having also chosen to isolate some of the measures that required a more urgent response and that could move forward without having to be submitted to the discussion and approval of the Assembly of the Republic.
This was the case with the new rent and interest subsidy. The two measures have in common that they target households whose rent or home loan payments take up more than 35% of their disposable income.
The bulk of the measures, however, are contained in the draft law that is being voted on today by the plenary in a final global vote and which contains some of the measures that aroused controversy as soon as they were known in February and which continue to be criticized by the opposition and sector agents.
This includes forced renting – which the Government has recalled has been enshrined in law for several years – the creation of an extraordinary contribution on local accommodation in areas of greater urban pressure and housing shortage, justified by the need to compensate for the negative impact that this activity ends up generating.
However, throughout the legislative process, this extraordinary contribution on local accommodation was attenuated: from the 35% with which it was initially designed, it dropped to 20% when the Government’s proposal finally entered the Assembly of the Republic, and registered a further decrease to 15% (this time by the hand of a PS amendment proposal).
The measure that limits the increase in rents for new lease contracts to the amount that has been practiced by the owners of these dwellings has also been surrounded by criticism, especially from landlords’ associations.
With the PS majority securing the approval of Mais Habitação, landlord associations, such as the Lisbon Landlords Association, are now waiting to see if the constitutionality of some of the measures (such as the cap on rent rises) will be raised.
The Mais Habitação bill was approved in general on May 19, with the PS voting in favor, the PAN and Livre abstaining and the remaining parties voting against.
During the special discussion and voting process, the PS vote was decisive, both in approving the Government’s proposal and in the amendments it tabled and in rejecting the amendments tabled by the opposition.
The ratification of the votes of the housing working group was carried out this Tuesday by the parliamentary committee of Economy, almost a week after the date that was initially scheduled, after a potestative request of the Liberal Initiative to impose the postponement of this ratification.
“More Housing” Program now available for consultation until March 10
