Crowd alerts in Santarém to crisis that “overtakes Lisbon and Porto”

Cerca of 150 people today demonstrated in Santarém for the right to housing, in a protest that the organizers considered a sign that the crisis is no longer restricted to the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto.

In statements to Lusa, the representative of the Porta à Porta movement in Santarém, Tobias Lopes, stated that the protest intended to denounce “the worsening of the difficulties in access to housing” and to challenge measures that, from their perspective, favor “real estate speculation”.

According to the activist, the worsening of the housing crisis in Santarém is directly related to the geographical proximity to the city in Lisbon, leading more and more people to search home in the district due to the prices practiced in the metropolitan area of the capital.

“ There are more and more people who live in Santarém, but work and make their lives in Lisbon. This increases the demand and prices of houses here in our area,” he said.

According to Tobias Lopes, population pressure is also felt in services and infrastructure, pointing out difficulties in public transport, health care and other public responses that he considers insufficient to follow the increase in the population.

Tobias Lopes admitted that the difficulties affect different groups of the population, but highlighted the young people and displaced students who attend higher education in Santarém, where access to accommodation remains “problem”.

In addition to national measures, organizers advocate greater municipal intervention to increase the supply of public housing and recover degraded or devoid of property.

The activist gave as an example municipal properties near the Military Road which, he said, were abandoned for several years and ended up sold to a private entity, which recovered them and placed the apartments on the market.

“ It was a beautiful business for this entity, but for Santarém, who needed more public housing and help from the House to mitigate the housing crisis, it does not serve ", criticized.

The demonstration traveled several streets of the historic center of the city, behind a strip where read “Habitation is not luxury, it is right”.

During the course posters were displayed with messages against real estate speculation and in defense of public housing, while a group of percussionists accompanied the procession.

Along with the W Shopping, several participants held posters with phrases such as “Travão à España Real Estate” and “More public and affordable housing”, while others exhibited messages calling for civic mobilization in defense of the right to housing.

More than bringing claims to the street, the demonstration intended to create in Santarém a habit of mobilization that, according to the organizers, has been less expressive than in other cities.

Tobias Lopes recalled that a similar initiative carried out about two years ago met between 30 and 40 people, a number that compared with about 150 participants estimated by the organization in today's action.

“ This is a great advance”, he said, attributing adherence to the collective process of preparation of the demonstration, through open meetings and contributions of associations and inhabitants of the municipality

So, he added, the demonstration represents “a first step in a very long way” to consolidate local mobilization around housing.

Among the participants was Pedro Felizardo, a resident of Torres Novas, who was associated with the demonstration because he considered that it is increasingly difficult for young people to buy or rent a house.

Although he currently has a house, which he received as an inheritance, Pedro Felizardo recognized that he would not be able to acquire a dwelling by his own means and that he participated above all in solidarity with those who face this difficulty.

Born in Lisbon, Pedro Felizardo said he saw the increase in prices also in Torres Novas, where, he said, some apartments are announced by values close to half a million euros.

“ Paying almost half a million for an apartment an hour from Lisbon is already a problem that is not only of the capital ", said, considering that the difficulty of access to housing has become a national problem.

The concentration took place next to the W Shopping and in the garden of the Republic and was part of a set of actions carried out in several cities of the country, a few days after camping for the housing that marked the political and media agenda.