A house to live
by Delfim Correlo
On September 30, thousands took to the streets in various cities across Portugal.
On a scorching weekend, they preferred the street to the beach, demanding that effective measures should be taken due to the exponential rise in the cost of housing.
Voices from the crowd shouted slogans such as "Peace, Bread, Health, Housing", "Housing is a right, without it nothing is right", "Millions for the banks, pennies for the people", or "A house is for living in, not for speculation".
In recent years, housing prices and rents have skyrocketed to unbearable levels for young people and families.
A growing demand for housing, with a significant component of foreigners (seduced by the tourist side of our country) and with greater purchasing power, seems to be the trigger- in the opinion of many - for growing real estate speculation in a market that (as is being proved) lacks regulation.
I dare say that in the last 5/6 years, in cities like Porto and Lisbon, housing prices have almost doubled, especially in the historic downtown. At the same time, for those earning the minimum wage (€740.83), the most they can afford is to rent a room with someone... since in the main urban centres a single room in an apartment can cost up to €500. Migrant families make up this group.
In addition, the rise in interest rates has further increased the pressure on families, now facing increasing mortgage payments, who do not understand the goodness of such a measure and its potential effect on inflation which is taking too much time to be seen....
These events took place one day after the president of the republic promulgated a package of government measures (“More Houses”), which effect everyone seems to doubt.
The photos were taken in Porto.
