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Lisbon City Council to Suspend Registration of New Local Accommodation Units in Five Neighbourhoods
registra11 October 2018
The Lisbon City Council announced today in a private meeting of the executive, led by the PS, that it will suspend new registrations of local accommodation units in the districts of Madragoa, Castelo, Alfama, Mouraria and Bairro Alto.
According to the document – “Study of Urban Tourism in Lisbon” – which the Lusa agency reviewed, the suspension of new registrations of local accommodation units will begin in those five districts.
The restrictions will then be extended to cover the parishes of Santa Maria Maior, Estrela and Misericordia.
On October 4, the Lisbon City Council announced that it would present a proposal to restrict the growth of new local housing units during that same month.
At the time, the councillor for Housing, Paula Marques, stated that the proposed measure was “fundamental” and that it could “be presented immediately,” so that the restrictions could be put into place as soon as the law was approved.
The decree, which allows municipal councils and town councils to intervene in the authorisation of local accommodation units, will come into force on October 22.
The municipality also estimated that it would release the corresponding municipal regulations in November.
Before that, the president of the Parish Council of Santa Maria Maior, Miguel Coelho, had publicly defended the suspension of new registrations in that part of the city.
A study commissioned by the Santa Maria Maior, São Vicente and Misericórdia city councils, which was published in January, also defended limits.
The study that was presented today also stated that other areas of the city have a “greater need for monitoring”, such as downtown, and the regions around Avenida da Liberdade, Av. da República, Av. Almirante Reis, Graça, Colina de Santana, Ajuda, Lapa and Estrela.
Citing data from August of this year, the document noted that there were 3,674 local accommodation units in the parish of Santa Maria Maior, 2,941 in Misericórdia and 860 in Estrela.
According to the same study, in August there were 3,431 local accommodation units in Bairro Alto and Madragoa (versus 12,870 long-term family accommodations) and 2,650 in the whole of Castelo, Alfama and Mouraria (for 9,024 households).
The limitations on local accommodation units were already provided for in the city governance agreement signed between the BE and the PS after the last municipal elections.
The agreement, which also attributed the Education and Social Rights ministries to the Left Block, proposed “changes to the legal framework for local housing so that the current registration process makes way for an authorisation process with criteria to be defined by the municipalities,” and that immediately initiated the technical study for the definition of capacity ceilings for local accommodation per city region to ensure the multifunctionality of neighbourhoods, particularly in historic areas.”
The document also pointed to the approval, “within three months after the legislative approval, of the map of quotas defining the maximum capacity… after extensive public discussion.”
Also, three months after the entry into force of the new legislative framework, the creation of a “municipal housing inspection and housing tourism office, which will act quickly on complaints from residents and which may withdraw licenses in cases of recidivism.”
Original Story: Sapo24 / MadreMedia / Lusa
Photo: Pedro Marques / MadreMedia
Translation: Richard Turner