Housing construction in Viana dependent on looking for two years

O mayor of Viana do Castelo today pointed out the example of a allotment to be built in the housing council at controlled costs, which has been waiting for two years for the opinion of a public entity.

Asked by the journalists at the end of the camariary meeting, Luís Nobre defended the speed of expropriations and administrative procedures to accelerate housing construction, considered a national “emergency”.

He pointed out as an example the allotment planned for the parish of São Romão do Neiva, referring to the need for four years, in the previous term, for the municipality to be able to own the land necessary to implement the project of 18 housing lots, with typologies T2 and T3, in the Place of Três Marcos.

The lots are intended for housing construction at controlled costs, aimed at families and the middle class, integrating the municipal housing strategy of the municipality.

Currently, although the process is under development, it is “depending on an opinion from a public entity” related to the slaughter of trees, to allow the advance of the undertaking that began to be prepared six years ago.

Without identifying the entity concerned, for reasons of “institutional respect”, the socialist mayor regretted the constraints on the articulation between public bodies.

“If housing is an emergency, we must have any tool that speeds up” the intervention capacity of each municipality, he maintained, considering that it is not “reasonable” that the response to an urgent need may take several years due to administrative formalities and difficulties in acquiring land.”.

For Luís Nobre, these difficulties “do not necessarily result from the direct action of the municipalities, but also from the dependence of entities with specific competencies and their own response times”.

According to the mayor, the current mechanisms of land acquisition and expropriation are “slow” and make the process very “painful”.

Luís Nobre defended the review of expropriation mechanisms and the creation of instruments that allow municipalities to acquire land and buildings more quickly, with a view to implementing public housing policies.

From the perspective of the mayor, the current administrative procedures and response times of different public entities condition the intervention capacity of the municipalities, even when there are defined projects and willingness to move forward with solutions to meet housing needs.

Luís Nobre warned of the need for more agile acquisition and negotiation mechanisms to enable them to assume ownership of the land and buildings needed to implement their policies.

“ I can't promote anything on a land, a building, or a lot that isn't mine. I have to get it first. If I find it difficult to acquire, the problem is somewhere", he noted.

In its view, the need to be owner is one of the main obstacles to municipal intervention, since, without land ownership, it is not possible to proceed with certain public works, even when the projects are prepared.

The mayor therefore advocated the creation or speeding up of legal instruments to facilitate the acquisition of assets for specific purposes, such as housing. It also admitted that these mechanisms could make room for private participation, following models adopted in other countries, where the State has a relevant intervention in the management of heritage and territory.

Concern also extends to the vacant buildings that have been off the market for decades. For the mayor, the difficulty in acquiring these properties prevents municipalities from taking the initiative of recovering them and putting them at the service of public policies.

The person responsible considers that speeding up the procedures for expropriation and acquisition of assets could be an additional instrument to respond to the housing crisis, reducing waiting times and giving greater capacity to implement municipal strategies.