Avelino Oliveira, president of the Order of Architects, stresses the urgent need to boost public housing supply across Portugal.
The country’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) aims to build 59,000 new homes by 2030. However, Oliveira warns this number falls far short of what’s needed to solve Portugal’s housing shortage. “We’re still 150,000 homes short of resolving the housing crisis,” he says.
Speaking to ECO, Oliveira highlights that only 2% of Portugal’s housing stock is public, while the country should aim for at least 5%, given the European average sits around 8%.
He also clarifies that of the 59,000 homes planned, only about a quarter — roughly 14,000 — will be brand new builds. The rest will be renovations of existing social housing estates. This means 75% of the homes in the plan are already part of the current housing stock.
Oliveira explains, “The 26,000 homes referenced are part of what municipalities call their ‘municipal housing strategies.’ These strategies map out families in need of housing, identify social housing estates requiring refurbishment, and locate land for new developments. But many of these homes already have residents living in them.”
In short, most of the upcoming investment will focus on upgrading existing buildings rather than constructing entirely new neighbourhoods.
