Housing remains a central theme in City Council meetings and, this time, PCP and PS presented similar intentions, trying to mobilize State assets for housing.
The Socialist Party listed the “96 thousand square meters” of potential housing uselisting properties on “Avenida 24 de Julho, Rua Professor Gomes Teixeira, Avenida Infante Santo, Rua de O Século, Avenida João Crisóstomo, Praça de Alvalade, Avenida Duque d’Ávila, Estrada das Laranjeiras, Rua da Horta Seca, Largo do Rato, Praça Duque de Saldanha, Rua Filipe Folque, Avenida Barbosa du Bocage, Praça de Londres, Rua Américo Durão and Campo Grande”, mentioning the “disinvestment in affordable income projects such as Alto do Restelo, Benfica, Parque das Nações, Lóios, Janelas Verdes and Quinta da Alfarrobeira”.
Therefore, the PS suggested in the motion that the Government to initiate a “negotiation process with the Chamber” and that it would be possible for “the direct acquisition by the Lisbon City Council or the constitution of a surface right in favor of the municipality, for a minimum period of 75 years”in addition to proposing to the Government that it “suspend any process of selling properties in Lisbon until the conclusion of the negotiation process with the municipality.”
With a similar aim, the PCP proposed dialogue between the Government and Carlos Moedas for “the creation of operations for the development of economically accessible and non-speculative housing, public student accommodation and reception of associative entities”, advanced with the “initiative to promote housing through real estate assets in partnerships between government and council” and a “conditional rent regime excluding, consequently, the use of the affordable rental regime, for leading the application of this regime to a generalized situation of financial burden with housing expenses or the exclusion of vast segments of the population with low intermediate incomes.” The attempt to update the municipal housing charter was also denied.
All of these points were voted against by the coalition headed by Carlos Moedas, from PSD, with CDS-PP and IL, but also by Chega, who had already voted alongside the executive on the Municipal Budget, Fiscal Plan, Competence Regime and Local Accommodation.
Finally, the only point approved in the PCP proposal, with favorable votes from the entire left and the Por Ti, Lisboa coalition (only Chega abstained), was the possibility of “mandating the President of the CML to establish a process of dialogue with the Government, for the use, for housing purposes, of the State’s inactive real estate assetsnamely, that included in the Partnership Development Program for Affordable Rentals.