The Right to Housing is a basic human right established in the Portuguese Constitution and in numerous treaties ratified by Portugal.
The group was created in March 2005 in response to requests from families living in shantytowns. These people were not enrolled in the PER, the Special Program for Rehousing, and their homes were being destroyed without any relocation proposals. They were on the verge of being on the street. We decided to support them in their struggle for access to decent accommodation and to question the public authorities about their general housing situation in Portugal.
Forced to realize that the housing crisis does not affect only the immigrant population but a significant part of the Portuguese population, we intend to develop our intervention in favor of all people who do not have access to this right, whatever their origin.
Thousands of people live in Portugal in advanced unsanitary conditions, they do not have access to the private housing market and the city. However, we find that thousands of buildings remain abandoned in the regions of Lisbon and Porto, that the existing legislation is ineffective and that State intervention in this matter is increasingly weak.
After a few months of work to support families expelled from their homes without alternative housing proposals, today we believe it is important to develop a more in-depth and transversal reflection on the issue of housing in social, economic, urbanistic, legislative terms…
The demands of Immigrant Solidarity with the Municipalities and the Government to build an intelligent and sustainable housing development policy that avoids the creation of new ghettos and allows access to decent housing for all, namely through:
1- Decent housing for all people without discrimination, the construction and promotion of a housing market at a cost adapted to the income of each person, as stated in point 3 of article 65 of the Portuguese Constitution;
2- The improvement of habitability conditions, the resettlement of thousands of people who live in sub-human conditions;
3- The rehabilitation of the countless empty buildings in Lisbon for people in need;
4- The suspension of demolitions without rehousing in the shantytowns and the search for solutions for all families;
5- The fight against real estate speculation and discrimination in access to leases.
