Government to lay housing bills before parliament this week

Portugal’s cabinet office minister, Mariana Vieira da Silva, said on Thursday that the Socialist government expects this week to lay before parliament the bills that make up its flagship housing package.

“The Government expects to deliver in parliament this week the draft laws that it has approved,” Vieira da Silva said during the press conference at the end of the Council of Ministers.

She stressed that “it is then up to the conference of [parliamentary party] leaders to schedule” the debate on the bills that the government is presenting.

Parliament is on 5 May scheduled to debate bills tabled by the right-wing Chega party, aimed at amending the existing Housing Act, as well as three bills from the Liberal Initiative (IL) that represent a tax package for housing.

On Wednesday, the spokeswoman for the conference of party leaders was asked whether the government had already asked about scheduling the debate for its housing package and answered in the negative.

The package of measures put forward by the government aims to respond to the housing crisis in five areas: increasing the supply of properties used for housing purposes, simplifying licensing processes, increasing the number of houses on the rental market, combatting speculation, and protecting families.

At the end of March, the prime minister, António Costa, said that some parts of the ‘Mais Habitação’ (More Housing) package can be dealt with by government statute, while others must be debated and approved in parliament under Portugal’s constitution.