Spain 
Italy 
Greece 
An Array of Properties Will Be Converted into Student Housing
26 February 2019
Barracks, a palace, a convent, youth hostels, a school and even a building on Av. 5 de Outubro in Lisbon, owned by the Ministry of Education, will be converted into university residences.
The de rigueur site for dozens of protests over the years, by both students and teachers, the Ministry of Education’s former headquarters will undergo a complete renovation and a change in its use, according to a government decree published today in the Diário da República.
The objective of the decree is to double the current supply of student accommodations within ten years, to around 15,000 beds, including the construction, renovation and upgrading of more than 250 properties located throughout Portugal.
The decree-law provides for three ways to create accommodations, one of which is the renovations of buildings through the National Fund for the Rehabilitation of Buildings (FNRE). The project’s first phase has already identified dozens of properties in 18 municipalities, which, after renovations, will provide nearly 4,000 beds for university students.
The decree also says, however, that “a minority” of the properties may be used for other purposes, “to ensure the financial viability of the FNRE’s investment.”
The list of properties to integrated into the FNRE, and subsequently converted into student housing, includes the Barra da Trafaria, in Almada, the former D. Luís de Castro secondary school in Braga, the Jesuits’ former home in Coimbra, the former palace of the Guerreiro family in Faro and the former home of the University of Algarve School of Health, also in Faro.
Youth hostels in Guarda, Leiria, Portalegre and Vila Real, and former headquarters of the Institute of Meteorology in Lisbon, the Santo Estêvão convent in Leiria, and the even the former stables of the Laranjeiras Palace are also included in the list of properties in Lisbon.
The first phase of the plan (though not a part of the FNRE) will also include buildings for construction in Aveiro and Lisbon, along with the former city council building in Batalha, the Santa Maria do Mar Monastery in Carcavelos, a former property of the Caixa de Crédito Agricola in Idanha-a-Nova and building 2 of the Ajuda Astronomical Observatory.
The student housing will be created by the FNRE, through developments by the universities themselves or through the use of accommodations owned by other entities.
Under the law, universities can rehabilitate, expand, build or rebuild properties for use in student housing, and may do so in collaboration with other public or private entities.
Original Story: Dinheiro Vivo – Ana Margarida Pinheiro
Translation and editing: Richard Turner