Latest news and stories about public housing in Portugal for expats and residents.
The Matosinhos City Council has completed the handover of 512 housing units, with the final 105 keys delivered to residents this week. The project, funded by a €122 million investment, aims to increase the availability of public housing in the municipality.
The government announced that 28,000 public housing solutions will be delivered by the end of August, surpassing the initial target set by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência or PRR). Officials expect this number to reach 40,000 by the end of the year, supported by the 1st Right (1.º Direito) housing access program.
The PRR (Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência) is Portugal's national program under the EU's NextGenerationEU recovery fund, worth approximately €22.2 billion — roughly €16.6 billion in grants plus €5.6 billion in loans. Approved in 2021, it funds reforms and investments across housing, digital transition, climate action, healthcare, and public administration.
Payments from the European Commission are tied to specific milestones and targets. Missed deadlines or incomplete reforms can delay disbursements, affecting public works, infrastructure projects, and social programs that depend on PRR funding.
The PRR is one of the largest investment programs in Portugal's recent history and touches areas from affordable housing construction to hospital modernization, school renovation, and green energy transition. Progress is monitored by the European Commission through regular reviews.
The 1.º Direito (Primeiro Direito or First Right) is a national public housing program designed to provide affordable homes to families living in precarious conditions. It is a key component of the government's strategy to increase housing stock, often utilizing funding from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência or PRR) to renovate or construct new units.
The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) in Lisbon is asking that the patrimony of Santa Casa — the charitable institution that owns large property holdings — be directed towards public housing policies, Correio da Manhã reports. The proposal frames Santa Casa's assets as a potential resource to expand affordable housing and influence municipal housing strategy. Any move to repurpose those assets would involve legal and political debate and could affect future public housing projects in Lisbon. Those seeking housing in Lisbon should watch municipal and parliamentary discussions on the proposal.
António Filipe is a long-serving member of parliament for the PCP (Partido Comunista Português) and a specialist in constitutional law, who has served as a vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic. He was the PCP-backed candidate in the 2026 presidential election.
The Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia) is a network of historic charitable institutions across Portugal that run social and health services—including care homes, some hospitals and day‑care centres—and many branches trace their roots back to the 15th century. Because Santa Casa facilities often provide publicly funded welfare services and care for vulnerable people, incidents at a Santa Casa daycare prompt official investigations, regulatory scrutiny and wider public concern.
The Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) has urged politicians to exercise greater responsibility following allegations by the PS leader that the government is delaying housing handovers for electoral purposes.
The Left Bloc (BE) has criticised Porto Vivo and the IHRU for a stalled housing rehabilitation project in Porto, where payment delays led to the contractor abandoning the site, leaving eight families in housing uncertainty.
The municipal council of Loulé has formally acquired 60 housing units for public rental in a €15.1 million investment backed largely by national recovery funds. The public deed was signed The post Loulé buys 60 homes for public housing in €15.1 million deal appeared first on Portugal Resident.
Update: Public deed signed and financing confirmed
The public deed has been signed, formalising the €15.1 million purchase, with the cost largely covered by national recovery funds to secure 60 units for public rental in Loulé.
As Portugal's PRR programme reaches its final phase, many of the 1.º Direito homes remain untransferred and several architects involved in public procurement are publicly questioning the projects' costs, delivery timescales and construction quality. Concerns focus on cost inflation, contractual timelines slipping, inconsistent build standards and weaknesses in procurement oversight, raising risks for occupants and the housing market; architects urge tighter quality assurance, clearer accountability and revised procurement practices to protect beneficiaries and public investment.
The municipality is waiting for contact from the institute to determine who will oversee the project. The mayor prefers the IHRU to lead, but admits to taking on the construction if necessary.
Walking through our city centres confronts us with a painful diagnosis: the State owns numerous plots of land and buildings, the vast majority of which are vacant, dilapidated, and in many cases, in a state of ruin. These are urban scars that contrast starkly with the social urgency we face regarding housing. As mayors, our purpose is clear: to identify these assets—which the State sometimes does not even know it owns—and give them new life by transforming them into affordable housing, expanding the public housing stock, and keeping these assets in the public sphere. However, the path to achieving this ambition hits a bureaucratic web. Much of this property is under the remit of Estamo, but taking it over for the municipality involves dealing with heavy demands and painfully slow processes. And this is where the absurdity sets in: current law requires us to pay for these properties according to strict market valuation. Let us be clear: municipalities receive buildings that require extensive renovations and are then forced to pay top dollar for them. As an illustration, the Coimbra City Council is set to receive a property that has caught fire several times recently. To materialise these projects, we have instruments like Controlled Cost Housing (HCC) and Affordable Cost Housing (HCA) at our disposal, which are crucial for the middle class and young people. We are fully available to partner with cooperatives and companies to achieve this. While we find great openness to dialogue within the Government, cordiality does not solve financial asphyxiation. We question the absurdity of receiving ruined property and being the ones who have to pay for it, invariably hearing the resigned response: 'It's the law!' If the law is an insurmountable obstacle to increasing the supply of public housing at fair prices, then it no longer serves the public interest. Requiring municipalities to buy ruins and dilapidated buildings at market prices is an unsustainable burden. Does it make sense to maintain a rule that penalises those who want to rehabilitate cities and retain residents? The country cannot afford to maintain bureaucratic dogmas when the right to housing is at stake. Changing the law is urgent.
Sofia Lisboa, a PCP deputy in the Lisbon Municipal Assembly, criticised Gebalis' position regarding the controversial eviction of a widow with two children from public housing in the capital.
![The [Lisbon] City Council cannot put a mother with two small children on the street without a dignified alternative](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.iol.pt%2Fimage%2Fid%2F6adbc778d34e9a786e75d969%2F200.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
An analysis comparing the percentage of public housing available in Portugal with the figures for the Netherlands and Denmark.
Municipalities are 'ready and motivated' to help the State increase the supply of public housing and are currently working with entities to reschedule Portugal2030 priorities and accelerate bureaucratic processes, the ANMP stated this Wednesday. Speaking to Lusa at the end of a meeting of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities' Board of Directors...
Last week, the Lisbon City Council had already announced that it estimated building around 90 homes in this building, with an investment exceeding 20 million euros, aimed primarily at public servants such as teachers, police officers, or health technicians.
The Government of Madeira has identified a 29,000 square metre area in the parish of São Martinho with conditions suitable for future housing developments, and has therefore decided to preserve the land.
The project involves housing in the Raposeira Building, in Telhado, valued at five million euros.
Home News Algarve city to build 204 homes Algarve city to build 204 homes The Portimão City Council has awarded the contract to build 204 housing units in the Coca Maravilhas neighbourhood, budgeted at €27.
Thanks to the largest investment ever by the only parish council in Portugal to provide public housing, we are retaining, but also attracting, new families. Opinion by Ricardo Marques
Tenants say the scheme violates the principle of human dignity and the right to decent housing.
At issue is a report from Público on Sunday, according to which the State sold properties below market value that could have provided hundreds of public homes.
According to Público, a total of eight properties in Lisbon left vacant after the Government consolidated into a single space, already sold or set to be auctioned later this year, could have housed approximately 450 public homes.
The newspaper Público reported this Sunday that the State sold properties below market value that could have provided hundreds of public homes.
Several residents have health problems and the elevator broke down three months ago.
The issue affects dozens of residents in the seven-story building in Lisbon, including other elderly people and individuals with mobility problems.
The opposition praises the increase in investment in the municipal housing company, which has risen by 520% over the last four years. However, they point to the aid from the PRR and note that there are buildings lacking minimum safety standards.
An analysis of the challenges and barriers currently impacting the implementation and effectiveness of public housing initiatives within the Portuguese territory.
The urgent response plan to the public housing crisis in the municipality of Cascais now totals 507 million euros for the construction of 4,600 new housing solutions.
The urgent response plan to the public housing crisis now totals 507 million euros for the construction of 4,600 new homes.
