# Right to Housing in Portugal: homes to live in, at prices people can afford > Campaign for the right to housing in Portugal: the crisis in numbers, six evidence-based proposals, upcoming protests and how to get organised. URL: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/ Language: en-GB Last updated: 2026-11-08 Other languages: pt: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/index.md, es: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/es/index.md, eu: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/eu/index.md, fr: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/fr/index.md, it: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/it/index.md, el: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/el/index.md, de: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/de/index.md, cs: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/cs/index.md, pl: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/pl/index.md, ca: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/ca/index.md, gl: https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/gl/index.md --- The right to housing · Portugal # A wage has to be enough to pay for a home. House prices have almost tripled in ten years, a rise nearly three times the EU average, and wages haven’t kept up. This isn’t fate: other European countries have housing policies that work, and research shows which ones. We demand that they be applied here, without further delay. [Take part](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/take-part/) · [Our demands](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/our-demands/) · [The crisis in numbers](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/the-crisis/) Portuguese Constitution · Article 65 “Everyone shall possess the right for themselves and their family to an adequately sized dwelling that provides hygienic and comfortable conditions and preserves personal and family privacy.” A right written into the Constitution in 1976. Fifty years on, it is still not honoured. Agenda ## Coming up - 2026-11-14 10:00 · [Manifestação Casa Para Viver: Não nos vão roubar o direito a morar – Covilhã](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/mobilizacoes/manifestacao-casa-para-viver-nao-nos-vao-roubar-o-direito-a-morar.md) · Manifestação · Covilhã, Jardim Público · Casa Para Viver - 2026-11-14 10:30 · [Casa Para Viver: Não nos vão roubar o direito a morar – Setúbal](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/mobilizacoes/casa-para-viver-nao-nos-vao-roubar-o-direito-a-morar-2.md) · Manifestação · Setúbal, Praça do Quebedo · Casa Para Viver - 2026-11-14 time TBC · [Manifestação pelo direito à habitação em Ponta Delgada](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/mobilizacoes/manifestacao-pelo-direito-a-habitacao-em-ponta-delgada.md) · Manifestação · Ponta Delgada, Portas da Cidade · Casa Para Viver, Porta a Porta [See the full agenda](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/agenda/) News ## Latest news from the street _(nenhuma / none)_ [See all news](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/news/) Media ## Latest news in the media What newspapers, radio and television are publishing about housing. Headlines are as published, in Portuguese, and each story opens on the outlet’s own site. [See more media coverage](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/news/#imprensa) The crisis in numbers ## It’s not a feeling. These are the official figures. - **+180%**: rise in house prices in Portugal from 2015 to 2025. EU average: +65%. (Eurostat) - **€17.79/m²**: median rent on new leases in Lisbon. For a 70 m² flat, that’s about €1,245 a month: more than a full month’s minimum wage. (INE, Q2 2026) - **723,000**: empty homes in Portugal, 12% of all housing. (INE, 2021 Census) - **≈2%**: of homes are public housing, one of the lowest shares in Europe. (ISCTE, 2025) [See all the figures](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/the-crisis/) Our demands ## Six proposals, each tried and tested elsewhere 01 ### Reverse the rent law Reverse the 2012 law that scrapped minimum lease terms and made it easier to end leases without a reason: stable leases as the norm, as in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain, while landlords keep the right to recover their home from tenants who don’t pay. 02 ### An end to demolitions and evictions without somewhere to go No demolition of lived-in homes and no eviction without an alternative home, as the Housing Framework Law already requires when the State evicts, and as Portugal has committed to before the UN and the Council of Europe. 03 ### A brake on investment funds buying up homes Curb purchases of existing homes by funds and large investors in the areas under most pressure, end the tax breaks that give them an edge, and use the pre-emption right the law already gives councils, without holding back anyone building new homes. 04 ### More public housing Bring the public and cooperative housing stock closer to European levels, with stable funding after the EU recovery plan, mixed-income neighbourhoods as in Vienna, and a fund that pays for itself from rents, as in Denmark. 05 ### A public drive to bring empty buildings back into use as homes A public programme to bring empty homes and buildings back into use, starting with the State’s own: first through agreements and help with renovation, as in Ireland and Scotland, and only for buildings left empty for a long time the tools the law already provides. 06 ### Rent caps that are truly affordable Make “affordable rent” mean affordable to the people who work here: caps tied to incomes, not just to the market, in programmes with public money or tax breaks, and in the private market reference rents for each area, as in Germany, with new homes exempt. [Read the full programme](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/our-demands/) Everyone’s problem ## At home, at work, in the neighbourhood In 2025, 27% of Portuguese households renting at market prices spent more than 40% of their income on housing, against 19% across the EU (Eurostat). When a home takes almost half your income, little is left for anything else. Housing isn’t a separate issue: it decides what’s left of your wages, where you can live and whether your neighbourhood stays alive. Tenants ### At home Know your rights, get together with your neighbours and join a tenants’ association. Tenants who know the law and organise can stop unlawful increases and evictions without legal grounds. Workers ### At work In 2022, the government, the UGT union confederation and the employers’ confederations signed an incomes agreement that put the minimum wage on a path to €900 by 2026. When rents rise faster, that effort is lost. The cost of housing has to be part of wage talks: raise it with your employer, your workmates and your union. Residents ### In the neighbourhood Local shops, schools, health centres: a neighbourhood without residents loses them all. In the parishes with the most tourism, house prices rose up to 32% more than elsewhere ([Franco and Santos, 2021](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2021.103667)). Housing has been a right in the Constitution since 1976. Honouring it isn’t a question of left or right: it’s the duty of every government. Not the first time ## When residents organised, they gained rights ### 1974: Occupations and residents’ committees Right after the revolution of 25 April, thousands of families occupied empty homes and set up residents’ committees. Housing became one of the great demands of the revolution. ### 1976: Housing in the Constitution Article 65 of the Constitution gives everyone the right to adequate housing and makes the State responsible for delivering it. ### 2023: Back on the streets The Casa Para Viver platform brings dozens of movements together and fills the streets of cities across the country. ### 2026: Tents in the square In October, tent camps in Lisbon’s Rossio and Porto’s Praça D. João I bring housing to the heart of both cities. The police clear them, but the protests keep growing, and on 24 October thousands march in Lisbon and Porto. [Read the history](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/not-the-first-time/) Watch ## Gentrification on film The Left Hand Rotation collective was filming gentrification long before the word reached the newspapers. Based in Lisbon since 2011, it documents how tourism and speculation empty neighbourhoods, and between 2010 and 2021 it took its “Gentrificación no es un nombre de señora” workshops to 17 cities in 9 countries. Its films are free to watch. 2019 · 82 min · Lisbon ### O que vai acontecer aqui? The movements defending the right to live in Lisbon, told by the people resisting evictions. Made with Habita! and Stop Despejos. [Watch the film](https://vimeo.com/357310878) 2016 · 43 min · Lisbon ### Terramotourism In 1755, an earthquake destroyed Lisbon. Today the city shakes with a tourist earthquake that pushes the people who live there out of the centre. [Watch the film](https://vimeo.com/191797954) 2017 · 41 min · Lisbon ### Alfama é Marcha Alfama gets ready for its marcha, the neighbourhood’s parade in Lisbon’s June festivities, and a question remains: how do you stop neighbourhood life from becoming folklore for tourists? [Watch the film](https://vimeo.com/237705597) 2026 · 66 min · Lisbon ### O nosso último filme sobre Lisboa From Expo 98 to the latest protests, including the demolition of Bairro da Jamaica in Seixal. Premiered at DocLisboa on 22 October 2026, it will be free to watch on the collective’s website. [Open on their site](https://www.lefthandrotation.com/) The videos are hosted on Vimeo and only load when you press “Watch the film”. From then on, Vimeo may store cookies in your browser. [See all the films](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/the-crisis/#filmes) · [More on the Left Hand Rotation website](https://www.lefthandrotation.com/) · [Follow them on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/lefthandrotation.colectivo/) Solidarity ## Causes we support Standing up for your home also means standing up for the place where you live. These are causes Cultura no Muro supports, and we invite you to get to know them. A case close to home ### Quinta dos Ingleses: luxury flats where homes are missing On the last big green space next to Carcavelos beach, the plan is to build around 850 luxury flats. [Find out more](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/the-crisis/#quinta-dos-ingleses) Boticas, Trás-os-Montes ### Covas do Barroso: the village that doesn’t want a mine A village in Barroso, an FAO-recognised agricultural heritage site, is fighting four open-pit lithium mines. [Find out more](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/the-crisis/#covas-do-barroso) You’re not alone ## Who’s campaigning for housing Movements, associations and collectives standing up for the right to a home in Portugal. Get to know them and join in. ### [Vida Justa](https://vidajusta.org) CPV ### [Casa Para Viver](https://www.casaparaviver.pt) ### [Porta a Porta: Casa para Todos](https://www.portaaporta.pt) ### [Habita!](https://habita.info) SD ### [Stop Despejos](https://www.instagram.com/stopdespejos/) ### [Movimento Referendo pela Habitação](https://referendopelahabitacao.pt) ### [Morar em Lisboa](https://moraremlisboa.org) ### [Associação dos Inquilinos Lisbonenses](https://www.ail.pt) ### [Associação dos Inquilinos e Condóminos do Norte de Portugal](https://www.aicnp.pt) [See all organisations](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/take-part/#movimentos) ## Housing is a right. Let’s make sure it’s honoured. Join the people getting organised in buildings, neighbourhoods and workplaces all over Portugal. [Take part](https://habitacao-alt.bytetoit.com/en/take-part/) · [Get in touch](mailto:direito.habitacao@proton.me)