Spain 
Italy 
Greece 
Government Launches Affordable Student Housing Program
17 May 2018
Public universities and municipalities will be able to access a building rehabilitation fund if they wish to invest in university residences.
Public universities, polytechnical schools and municipalities will be able to access a building rehabilitation fund if they wish to invest in university residences. Single rooms in Lisbon have already reached 600 euros per month.
The new program is included in the National Higher Education Housing Plan (PNAES), which was presented in Coimbra by the Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Fernanda Rollo, the Secretary of State for Housing , Ana Pinho, and the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, João Paulo Rebelo. Incorporated into the Affordable Rents Program, which is still under consideration by the Portuguese parliament, the PNAES aims to provide funds to public universities and municipalities that have buildings that are available for conversion into student residences.
One of the available instruments is Fundiestamo, a company, belonging to the Parpública group, that manages real estate investment funds and through which institutions can make real estate available for rehabilitation for subsequent use as university residences. According to Fernanda Rollo, several municipalities and universities expressed an interest in such a possibility. “You can take advantage of this moment to rehabilitate. This is a very interesting possibility when looking through the prism of stimulating demographic density and rejuvenation,” the secretary of state for higher education said, adding that no ceilings or maximum amounts have been established and that each case will be evaluated separately, without pre-conditions.
Secretary Rollo also noted planned changes to the tax regime, such as the possibility of an income tax deduction for rents paid by students up to the age of 25 and exemptions from IMI for homeowners who place properties in the student rental market with affordable rates. The set of measures are intended to “help increase the supply” of available beds, which, regarding university and polytechnical residences, is currently at a low of 12% of the existing requirements.
This figure is the result of an earlier survey by the Portuguese government with educational institutions and students, which helped evaluate Portugal’s current student housing stock, the total number of students residing outside of their homes compared to the total number of students in higher education (42% of Portuguese students in higher education reside out of their family homes) and the average cost of renting a room by region.
The result was the awareness that there exists “the need” to “look at the problem” of a lack of accommodation, “which has become acuter in recent times, due to pressures from tourism.” Secretary Rollo added that the lack of supply also “reflects both the prices and the availability of spaces to rent by students, particularly in Lisbon and Porto.”
The minister described the rise in the cost of rentals in Lisbon and Porto as “impressive.” The increase has led students to pay 600 euros for a room in Lisbon, or 450 euros in Porto, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. The cost considers a 10-square-meter room with a cost of about six euros per square meter in Lisbon and 4.58 euros in Porto.
The metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, with more than 30% of the non-resident students, are the two cities that have some of the highest rental costs and where the supply of beds in public residences and at controlled costs is lower, accounting for less than 10% of the needs of non-resident students.
In the Algarve, there is an average price of five euros per square meter, which can mean rents of 500 euros. However, public housing in the region covers more than 30% of the needs of non-resident students.
The minister recognises that the proposed measures a “panacea,” nor will they have any immediate effect, since building and rehabilitating are time-consuming processes. The government even expects the tax incentives to produce few demonstrable effects but argued that they have to act on whatever options they have. “We have to try to find every possible solution to mitigate this pressing need,” she said.
Original Story: Observador / Lusa
Translation: Richard Turner