The Municipality of Leiria unanimously approved this Monday, March 16, an amendment to the Social Emergency Fund following the bad weather, which will allow more financial support in the area of housing for families.
According to the deliberation, the regulations of that fund provided, until now, for a maximum support of 1,500 euros for the payment of rent or provision of a bank loan.
However, Depression Kristin, on January 28, “caused structural damage to homes, flooding, infiltration and situations of loss or temporary impossibility of using the usual residence, leading to urgent evacuations and relocations”.
“Many households, following this force majeure, external and unpredictable event, were faced with unforeseen and large costs, namely payment of rent, urgent conclusion of new lease contracts with the consequent payment of deposits”, he acknowledged.
On the other hand, “the current context of the housing market is characterized by a significant and persistent increase in housing prices, both in acquisition and rental, a phenomenon particularly felt in the municipality of Leiria”.
“The increase in rents, combined with the increase in the cost of living, has worsened the effort rate of families and increased the risk of default and loss of habitual residence,” said the Chamber.
Thus, the limit that was foreseen in the regulation “appears to be inappropriate”, imposing “its review, not only as a cyclical response to Storm Kristin, but also as a structural adaptation of this regulatory instrument to the evolution of housing prices”.
The approved change aims to “strengthen the municipal response capacity by extending support for the payment of rent for up to five months, increasing the global maximum amount to three thousand euros and expressly providing for the payment of a deposit of up to 700 euros for new rental contracts”.
At the extraordinary meeting of the municipal executive, councilor Ana Valentim, responsible for Social Development, clarified that due to the bad weather “there were families living in rental housing and that landlords will not always be able to carry out the respective works”.
“What we intend to do is support these families in being able to have a new rental contract and, in some way, also stabilize their financial situation, not only with income support for a period of five months, but also the possibility of having support in the matter of the deposit”, he said, noting that people who receive the national minimum wage will hardly be able to pay two or three months of deposit.
According to Ana Valentim, the Leiria Chamber wants to “guarantee that families in a situation of greater social vulnerability can have access to a rental contract in the event that landlords are unable to carry out the works in the houses that are the subject of a rental contract”.
“We don’t want to have families that have to choose between paying rent or paying for medicine or purchasing food,” added the councilor.
The Municipal Social Emergency Fund was created in 2020, following the Covid-19 pandemic, and allows for specific support in the areas of food support, housing and health.
Since the beginning of the program, around 3,500 people have been served, equivalent to around 800 families.
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