Housing policies in Portugal: looking for new pathways

Abstract

This article is based on the research project ‘Contributions for the Housing Strategic Plan for Portugal 2008/2012’ and addresses the housing policies in Portugal while seeking to identify access conditions and housing needs. By pointing out the analysis of housing policies in Portugal after the Portuguese revolution in 1974, and recalling the profound world-wide transformations in real estate dynamics, we aim to characterise the main features of growth in housing, to identify housing needs, and to summarize a few proposals for a “change in paradigm” of intervention in the context of access to lodging of lower-income populations. In a framework of deep necessity for change in forms of intervention operated by the State and municipalities, we stand for the integration of public intervention in the improved functioning of private market dynamics, enabling access to families with lower income and integrating housing policies in the wider setting of urban policies and social policies. Above all, we stress the need to avoid the segregation of neighbourhoods that characterized previous policies.