Church warns that housing costs are mortgaged a dignified life

O president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) today considered that the housing problem requires everyone “an attitude of dialogue and cooperation”, warning that when household expenses are too heavy they mortgage a dignified life.

“ Access to housing is not exhausted in public policies or in the functioning of the market, it is a problem that deeply conditions people's lives and requires, of all, an attitude of dialogue and cooperation ", said Virgilio Antunes, in Fatima, at the opening of the 216th Plenary Assembly of the CEP.

For Virgil Antunes, looking at the current living conditions in the country, one cannot “be indifferent to the anguish of so many young people, couples and families that, despite working and trying to build their future, do not find a house that they can afford”.

Stressing that “a house is more than a place to live, it is the place where the family gathers, where children grow up, where roots are created and projects of life are made”, Virgilius Antunes maintained that “when spending on housing becomes too heavy for family incomes, the possibility of building a life with dignity is also mortgaged”.

The Bishop of the Diocese of Coimbra also stressed that it is “necessary to find concrete answers so that a dignified and accessible house does not continue to be a dream postponed to so many families”.

“ The solutions we find together will also say much about the society we want to build”, he said.

Assuring that “the Church does not ignore this reality and seeks to make its contribution”, the president of the CEP admitted: “We can’t do everything, but we can’t stop doing what we can and can make a difference in the life of those who need it most.”.

Rather, he noted that this great meeting of the Portuguese Catholic episcopate takes place “at a time particularly marked by tensions, uncertainties and concerns, in Portugal and in the world”.

“ We live in a context where many political and economic decisions, often subordinated to particular interests, personal ambition or strategies of power, seem to ignore the common good and disregard the dignity and concrete needs of people,” he lamented.

In this regard, he pointed out that “its consequences are very visible and deeply painful”, in wars, “in situations of poverty and precariousness that worsen” and “in the growing difficulty of so many people and families in ensuring dignified living conditions, given the increase in the cost of living and the weakening of their conditions of existence”.

“ These are decisions that can produce immediate and devastating effects on people's lives, but whose consequences and social, human and economic damage often require much more time to be repaired," he said.

For the bishop, this scenario calls upon society and the Church not to “look at these realities with indifference”, nor to “just see the problems”.

“(...) We are called to place the human person at the heart of our concerns, to defend his dignity, to promote justice and solidarity and to be, together with those who suffer the most, a presence of closeness and hope”, he added.

The current protests against the housing crisis began in Porto on October 10 and expanded to Lisbon, but have also motivated concentrations in other cities.

The performance of the Public Security Police to disperse the camps and remove the tents in Rossio, Lisbon, and in Praça D. João I, in Porto, led to dozens of arrests and caused dozens of wounded, motivating criticism from various quadrants.

The protesters demand, among other things, the reversal of the new rental law, a stop to housing purchase by real estate funds and “truely accessible” roofs to income.