Government and Lisbon City Hall invest hundreds of millions of euros in housing until 2028

The Lisbon City Hall closed a new agreement with Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) for an investment in public housing. This agreement of 322 million euros comes in addition to the agreements that already existed and was signed between 2019 and 2022; in total, it will be more than 700 million euros to, between 2023 and 2028, rehabilitate municipal assets in poor condition and also build new homes in the capital.

The new 322 million euros will go to two different destinations:

• Around 100 million euros will be allocated to the rehabilitation of municipal housing under Gebalis' management: 15 million to continue the effort to rehabilitate vacant housing, benefiting about 620 fractions; and 85 million to rehabilitate buildings with undignified housing conditions, benefiting 8,543 homes and the respective resident families;
• the remaining 222 million euros are destined to continue the investment effort in new housingbetween 2027 and 2028 - that is, beyond the duration of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), whose investments must be completed by the end of 2026. This 222 million will, therefore, be financed through the State Budget.

This is the fourth agreement between the Lisbon Chamber and IHRUThe first agreement, worth 239 euros, was signed in 2019 - still in the previous municipal mandate - and had 2024 as a time horizon. The first agreement, worth 239 euros, was signed in 2019 - still in the previous municipal mandate -, and had 2024 as its time horizon. The second was an addition to the first, worth 123 million euros, and was signed in 2022 by the current Councillor for Housing, Filipa Roseta. Finally, the third agreement, worth approximately 355 million, was also established last year and had a time horizon of 2028.

All told, in 2022 nearly 500 million have been established for public housing in Lisbon; but if we look at the 2023-2028 timeline and add the new 322 million euros, the total investment will be about 720 euros.

The previous agreements can be viewed at the end of the article; LPP has requested access to the new agreement and will share more details as soon as it has a response.

Agreements between Government and Municipalities

The Lisbon Municipality is not the only one to establish agreements with the IHRU. The Government establishes, through this body and its 1st Right, launched in 2018, relations with several local authorities to promote housing solutions for people who live in undignified housing conditions and who cannot afford the cost of access to adequate housing. These agreements allow the government to pass on funds to the municipalities to carry out actions such as the rehabilitation of houses in poor condition, the construction of new housing, the acquisition of buildings for housing purposes, and even the rental of houses for subletting.

Lisbon has used these agreements to finance its housing policies, namely through Gebalis - for the rehabilitation of municipal assets in neighborhoods - but also through the SRU - in relation to new construction for affordable rent. In a statement, the Lisbon city council says that the new agreement, together with the one signed in 2022 and the funds that came from behind, allows "an ambitious commitment to realize necessary investments in the construction and rehabilitation of some 14,383,000 homes by 2028". The municipality says that part of this investment is already underway, having made it possible, in the current mandate, to allocate more than 1100 homes, 487 homes built and 683 homes rehabilitated.

"The biggest challenge in Lisbon today is housing. And it is such a big challenge for our city that we cannot solve it with just one measure. For the Lisbon City Council, this is an absolute priority, to which we are responding with all the instruments at our disposal"In a statement, the Mayor of Lisbon said, stressing the importance of the funding now secured with the IHRU. Carlos Moedas says that in this effort that is being made by the local authority "no one can be left behind". "We are paying special attention to the most vulnerable, to make sure they have decent housing, but we are also supporting the middle class, so they can live in Lisbon"the mayor also points out.

In the Lisbon metropolitan area in total, nearly three billion euros are being invested in public housingonly through the program 1st Right. The investment is shared between the IHRU, which participates in part, and the municipalities; another part of the cake concerns subsidized loans (i.e., credits with special conditions). Lisbon leads the way with more than a billion in investment with the IHRU for public housing, followed by Oeiras, which is investing around 332 million, Cascais with 162 million, Setúbal with close to 215 million, and Almada with 214 million - until 2025/26.

The agreements can be consulted here.