# Our demands: six measures for housing in Portugal > Public housing, rents people can afford on their wages, long leases, no eviction without somewhere to go and collective rights for tenants. The full programme. URL: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/en/our-demands/ Language: en-GB Last updated: 2026-10-26 Other languages: pt: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/o-que-exigimos.md, es: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/es/lo-que-exigimos.md, eu: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/eu/zer-eskatzen-dugu.md, fr: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/fr/nos-revendications.md, it: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/it/cosa-chiediamo.md, el: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/el/ti-diekdikoume.md, de: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/de/unsere-forderungen.md, cs: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/cs/co-pozadujeme.md, pl: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/pl/postulaty.md, ca: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/ca/que-exigim.md, gl: https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/gl/o-que-esiximos.md --- Our programme # Our demands Six concrete demands to make housing a right again, not a business. They don’t depend on who’s in government. They depend on how much strength we can build together. 01 ## Homes to live in, not to speculate with A home is where life happens, not a line in an investment portfolio. Once housing becomes a financial product, prices follow what investors can pay, not what people earn. Measures - Restrict home purchases by investment funds and companies that won’t live in them. - Cap short-term lets in areas under housing pressure, starting with Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve. - Steeply rising taxes on homes that large owners keep empty, with the money going to public housing. 02 ## A large public housing stock The countries that kept housing affordable did it with a large stock of public and cooperative homes. In Portugal, public building fell from about 4,500 homes a year in the 1970s and early 1980s to fewer than 300 in the early 2010s. Measures - A long-term public programme to build and renovate homes, with stable funding over many years. - Turn empty public buildings into homes instead of selling them to private investors. - Support for housing cooperatives and permanently affordable rents that never go back on the market. 03 ## Security: no eviction without somewhere to go Short leases and fast-track evictions keep tenants constantly afraid: complain, and your lease may not be renewed. Without security, every other right stays on paper. Measures - Leases of at least 10 years, as housing movements across the country are demanding. - No evictions of vulnerable families until decent rehousing is guaranteed. - Reverse the changes that speed up evictions instead of protecting the people living in the home. 04 ## Rents that fit our wages In Lisbon, renting a two-bedroom flat costs more than a whole minimum wage. With no limits, every new lease pushes the price higher, and the people who keep the city running are priced out of it. Measures - Reference rents for each area, tied to local incomes, with a binding cap on new leases. - Keep annual rent increases on existing leases well below wage growth. - Protect mortgage holders from sudden jumps in their repayments. 05 ## Collective rights for tenants On their own, tenants have little power against a landlord. Together, as a building, a neighbourhood or a city, they can negotiate as equals, just as workers do through collective bargaining. Measures - Legal recognition of collective bargaining between tenants’ associations and large landlords. - Protection from retaliation for tenants who organise or make a complaint. - Free legal help for tenants facing eviction or abuse. 06 ## Decent wages, pensions and public services From 2015 to 2025, house prices rose 180% and the minimum wage rose 72%. The crisis lives in that gap between what we earn and what a home costs. Measures - Wage and pension rises above inflation, tied to the real cost of living, housing included. - Good public services in every neighbourhood, not just where land is cheap. - Affordable, reliable public transport, so living further out isn’t a punishment. Citizens’ Legislative Initiative ## The law is yours too With 20,000 signatures, any group of citizens can put a bill before Parliament. The Acampada pela Habitação, the movement behind the tent camps, is drafting one, and wants to hear from you: what is the biggest housing problem, and what would you change in the law? 1 ### Have your say Answer the survey and come to the open sessions around the country. A committee of 5 to 10 people drafts the bill from what people say. 2 ### Sign 20,000 voters sign the proposal. 3 ### To Parliament The bill goes to the Assembleia da República to be debated and voted on. Parliament has admitted 14 citizens’ initiatives so far, and approved 8. [Answer the survey](https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/Gwwywk32Z8XpK6HOOoFDRhpwvEnqHV9m6V-AJxhc9qE/) · [ILC website](https://ilc-habitacao.sites.deploybase.eu/) Both are in Portuguese. The survey is end-to-end encrypted and can be answered anonymously. Contact: [ilc-habitacao@proton.me](mailto:ilc-habitacao@proton.me) ### What the tent camps are demanding - Repeal the 2012 rent law - Stop evictions - Ban vulture funds from buying homes - More public housing - Bring empty buildings back into use as homes - Caps on rents ## Housing is a right. Let’s win it. Join the people getting organised in buildings, neighbourhoods and workplaces all over Portugal. [Take part](https://habitacao.bytetoit.com/en/take-part/) · [Get in touch](mailto:contacto@habitacao.bytetoit.com)