Costa stresses that adequate housing is needed to attract young people to the countryside

The prime minister stressed this Wednesday, in Fundão, that housing is one of the priorities of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), also playing a role in attracting and settling young people in low-density areas.

After attending the signing ceremony of an agreement aimed at building and renovating affordable housing in the Intermunicipal Community of Beiras and Serra da Estrela (CIMBSE), in Fundão, António Costa highlighted the importance of the housing policies provided for in the PRR reach the interior.

“Why do we need new housing in a territory that is losing population and where there are abandoned houses?”, questioned António Costa, reinforcing the “paradox” already presented in the session by the mayor of Fundão, Paulo Fernandes.

Responding to the question, the Government leader stressed that in order to retain or attract young people to depopulated territories it is necessary to “have adequate housing for that population”, emphasizing that housing policies do not work like lego pieces, it is necessary to adapt to the needs of the territories.

“It’s fantastic to attract an information technology company, increase the number of engineers residing in the region, but it’s not enough to have the cable, but the house to be the house where families want to settle. And these houses are not necessarily those that are empty “, he noted.

For the prime minister, investments in infrastructure, health systems or connectivity are necessary, but without intervention in housing it will be “very difficult” to fight against the depopulation of low-density territories.

During his speech, António Costa also stressed that the PRR is a plan with fixed and well-defined objectives.

“It is not a group of millions that is put inside a helicopter and we go around the country to distribute it, so that the millions fall wherever the wind takes them”, he stressed.

During the session, the mayor of Fundão stressed that the problem in that region is not that there are too many or too few houses, but “whether the housing stock is adequate or inadequate in view of demand trends”, further stressing that there is a shortage in the housing market leasing in these municipalities, where this type of market has never been very dynamic.

Before Fundão, António Costa was in Idanha-a-Nova, at Herdade do Couto da Várzea, where he attended the presentation of several research projects that seek to value endogenous products.

The prime minister spent the day in the Castelo Branco district, within the scope of the “Closer Government” programme, which runs between today and Thursday, with more than 40 initiatives where members of the executive will be present.

On Thursday, a Council of Ministers will be held in Castelo Branco.