This week we woke up to two news revealing the Government’s options: the sale of 16 properties – ten in Lisbon and six in Porto – and the withdrawal of 311 million euros from the PRR – Recovery and Resilience Program. This retreat is a bad sign and it is important to see what is behind it. Bad planning? Lack of management? Lack of labor? Insufficiencies in the production chain? The Government chooses to channel resources towards innovation and modernization of the business fabric, but with these cuts it leaves behind areas essential to the well-being of the population – health, education, transport, social support and, above all, housing.
We have witnessed a worrying trend: the alienation of public assets – buildings and land – that could serve to guarantee the right to housing. The State, instead of being the guardian of the collective interest, behaves like the country’s real estate promoter, selling what belongs to everyone to the highest bidder. These are properties located in central areas, previously serving the Republic and which have now become market-oriented.
Particularly serious is the case of the Conchinhas land, in Lisbon – infrastructured, with a project approved and paid for by the IHRU, intended for affordable housing. The Government later said that there are “only” 15 properties, alleging “an oversight” in the inclusion of the land. Convenient. But even more worrying is the absence of any restrictions on the future use of these properties. The predictable result? Less housing, more hotels, more speculation, more social exclusion.
And let’s not be naive. There is no allocation of revenue in public administration, so promising that the proceeds from the sale will be applied to public housing is, at the very least, illusory. In the name of “efficiency” and “asset profitability”, the State sells central assets, infrastructure and housing potential, just to obtain quick liquidity. The objective is an income of 1.2 billion euros – but at what cost? The Government forgoes funds from the PRR, argues that there are other forms of loans with equal or better conditions in the financial market and then rushes to sell assets. It’s not noticeable.
When the State sells properties that could be converted into public housing, it abdicates its social responsibility and takes a step back in combating the housing crisis. It’s not just a strategy, it’s a political choice. Choose a side – that of financial interests, and not that of families who live in fear of an increase in rent or an eviction letter.
The State cannot be an accomplice of the market; it has to be your counterweight. When it abdicates its regulatory function and acts as a facilitator of speculation, the result is inequality, exclusion and precariousness. What is today called “property appreciation” is, in fact, social exclusion. It is the neoliberal primer to be applied.
We need firm policies: limit the purchase of properties by speculative funds, mobilize vacant homes – public and private –, reinforce the housing stock and ensure that urban rehabilitation serves those who live and work in cities, not those who profit from them.
Fighting for the right to housing means defending the right to the city. It is to affirm that urban space is not a commodity. And the State – which is all of us – must be on the side of people, not speculation.
Independent councilor, Citizens for Lisbon, at CML