Enabling the right to decent housing
Within the framework of its duties to promote the economic, social and environmental planning and management of the territory, the Lisbon Metropolitan Area has developed an action plan for housing, in response to the opportunity launched in this area by the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The plan defines a collective, collaborative and shared path, which we believe will allow us to find a diverse set of responses that make the right to adequate and dignified housing possible in the Lisbon metropolitan area.
It includes measures related to programs supporting access to housing, emergency and temporary housing assistance, and affordable housing, and builds on the reflective and strategic process currently being undertaken by the 18 municipalities in the Lisbon metropolitan area.
This will be achieved through a substantial investment in the Lisbon metropolitan area, based on a strategy shared by all municipalities.
The creation, in 2022, of a framework agreement (for project preparation, project review, geological and geotechnical prospecting, and preparation of a simplified project) in order to aggregate efforts at a regional level for the operationalization of Local Housing Strategies, the signing, in 2023, of cooperation protocols with the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, and the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation, the signing of an inter-administrative cooperation contract with LNEC, in 2024, and the presentation, in 2022 , an unprecedented Diagnosis of Unworthy Housing Conditions, which represents the first survey of unworthy housing conditions, carried out on a metropolitan scale, are some of the initiatives carried out by AML.
Municipal applications
The 18 municipalities in the Lisbon metropolitan area have drawn up 747 applications for the housing component of the PRR, totaling around 24,800 homes (19,600 for rehabilitation and 5,200 for new construction). The total value of the investment applied for is around 1.5 million euros.
By December 2024, around 9,500 dwellings had been approved (342 applications), of which 7,100 were rehabilitations and 2,400 new constructions (approximate figures).
The municipalities' applications also include around 370 urgent and temporary housing units and 400 beds for student accommodation (data from September 2024).
Cooperation contract with LNEC
The Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the National Civil Engineering Laboratory signed, in April 2024, an inter-administrative cooperation contract for the preparation of maps of work quantities and technical conditions, within the scope of the construction of a new framework agreement for contracting of contracts for simple rehabilitation interventions and simple maintenance interventions in the region's housing stock.
The formalization of the contract, which aims at the future conclusion of public housing works contracts by the municipalities of the Lisbon metropolitan area, follows the survey of the needs expressed by the municipalities regarding the contracting of simple and simple maintenance interventions.
The document will be another instrument available to municipalities in their work to requalify and strengthen the housing stock in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, to be developed within the scope of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) for the promotion of supported housing, namely through rehabilitation existing assets or new construction.
AML will, therefore, continue its action in the housing area, with the development of a new framework agreement in this area, because the eligibility of expenditure depends on compliance with a set of demanding technical and calendar requirements, which advise to an aggregation of efforts at a regional level regarding the operationalization of Local Housing Strategies. And, in this field, one of the aspects with the greatest impact on the ability to execute these strategies will be the ability to contract execution projects and works, quickly and in compliance with the applicable regulatory framework.
The contract also includes technical assistance in responding to possible requests for clarification, errors and omissions in competitions.
Housing framework agreement
Given the complexity of the technical and timing requirements inherent in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, AML and the municipalities decided to move forward with the creation of a framework agreement, in order to aggregate efforts at regional level for the operationalization of the Local Housing Strategies.
In 2022, AML therefore launched a public tender for a framework agreement under its housing action plan, structured into four lots: for project preparation, project review, geological and geotechnical survey and simplified project preparation.
With the establishment of this framework agreement, the aim is not only to achieve significant savings in the procurement of goods and services, but also to align the centralized procurement policy of the AML, its municipalities, and other participating entities with the overall public procurement policy.
Following the publication of the international public tender and the period for submitting proposals, AML evaluated and selected the best teams, based on the experience of the design teams and the price/hour charged, with which it signed the framework agreement. Around 40 architectural, engineering and geotechnical companies and studios signed the framework agreement in December 2022.
In this second phase, municipalities launched invitations to submit proposals.
By September 2024, eight municipalities in the Lisbon metropolitan area had already formalized 62 requests to use the framework agreement as part of their applications. 27 for the preparation of architectural or specialty projects, 18 for the revision of architectural or specialty projects, 10 for geological-geotechnical land survey services and 7 for the preparation of simplified projects.
The processes end with the signing of contracts between the municipality and the project team.
Cooperation protocols
In July 2023, the Lisbon Metropolitan Area signed cooperation protocols with the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon and the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation.
Memorandum of Understanding with the IHRU – Institute for Housing and Urban Renewal
The Institute for Housing and Urban Renewal is the public agency responsible for implementing national housing policy, playing a particularly important role as the entity in charge of executing investments in the sector.
The main objectives of this cooperation mechanism are to support the process of preparing, submitting, and approving applications for PRR funds and to expedite this process; to oversee and monitor the implementation of contracted investments, minimizing potential delays relative to the planned schedule; support municipalities in fulfilling their mandatory legal reporting obligations, and contribute to the implementation of PRR housing investments in the Lisbon metropolitan area.
The cooperation focuses on the applications of the municipalities of the Lisbon metropolitan area submitted or to be submitted to the PRR funds, as well as the investments contracted under the three lines of investment under the responsibility of the IHRU: program to support access to housing, national exchange of urgent and temporary housing and public affordable housing. The cooperation includes all the municipalities that make up the AML.
The IHRU’s responsibilities under the protocol include supporting the development of survey forms related to the planning, implementation, and monitoring of municipal applications, among other tasks.
A monthly meeting is also scheduled to provide clarification on application processes or projects funded by the municipalities of the AML.
The AML, in turn, undertakes to develop a metropolitan information platform in the field of housing that allows for the collection and processing of data on submitted and approved applications, as well as data on the implementation and planning of investments.
The AML is also responsible for surveying the municipalities about pending situations regarding application processes or financed operations that should be clarified with the IHRU.
Memorandum of Understanding with the Faculty of Architecture (University of Lisbon)
The growing role that AML has come to play as a driving force, facilitator, and coordinator of housing initiatives in the member municipalities, the increased priority given to housing-related issues at the national level and, specifically, within the municipalities, and the significance that the successful implementation of the PRR will have for the housing sector are the basis for signing this commitment.
The agreement aims to strengthen and formalize the cooperative and exchange relationships between AML and FA-UL in the field of housing, so that both parties may benefit from the development of joint initiatives. The cooperative initiatives to be developed will focus on housing, as well as territorial and urban policies.
The recognition that the support provided by the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) in the field of housing must be strengthened and expanded beyond the implementation of the PRR, the significance of housing within the educational programs offered by the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Lisbon, the importance the faculty attaches to its relationship with the AML, its territory, and the municipalities that comprise it, the development of applied scientific research projects in this field of knowledge, and the fruitful work carried out in cooperation and partnership by these two entities in the field of housing were also key premises of the agreement.
Both institutions are committed to continuing, expanding, and deepening their cooperative and partnership-based work in the field of housing, particularly with regard to monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the PRR, conducting baseline studies on housing dynamics within the AML region and on public housing policies, and to the monitoring and support of municipal actions, whether through the provision of technical and scientific advice and applied scientific research studies, or through the strengthening of the skills of its technical staff.
An addendum was also signed that will allow the Research Center of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon to support its municipalities in drawing up their Municipal Housing Charters, promoting access for all to tools, knowledge and training that will enable them to carry them out properly and on time, through two separate but interconnected initiatives: the design of a "Guide to Drawing Up Municipal Housing Charters" and the promotion of a "Postgraduate Course on Municipal Housing Charters", in conjunction with the study to be developed as part of the guide, with a view to building the skills of the AML technical staff and its constituent municipalities.
A supplementary agreement was also signed under the “New Generation of Housing” Alliance cooperation protocol between AML and FA-UL on November 11, 2021.
The agreement sets forth the terms governing the provision of specialized training by FA-UL to AML and its member municipalities, as part of the training project carried out under the “New Generation of Housing” Alliance Cooperation Protocol.
Metropolitan housing and habitat observatory
The Lisbon Metropolitan Area is also working on the creation of a metropolitan observatory for housing and the built environment that will expand and deepen the work currently underway in this area.
This observatory, which is being developed by the Architecture, Urbanism and Design Research Centre of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, will reinforce the territorial and urban dimension of housing, strengthen support for municipalities in relation to their attributions and competences in these areas and maximize the future usefulness of projects already carried out and underway.
It will focus, in particular, on aspects that have a clear metropolitan or public dimension.
Its main purpose will be to support the actions of the public administration, at local and metropolitan level, in the areas of housing policies, planning and management of existing and future municipal housing stock, including its monitoring and evaluation.
This instrument, with the Lisbon metropolitan area as its territorial scope, consists of a database and its electronic platform, which aims to enable the creation and application of information and specialized knowledge in four major complementary thematic areas:
- Housing and territorial dynamics - Collecting and making available data and information on population, housing and territorial dynamics relevant to housing policies;
- Municipal housing stock - Collecting and making available data and information on the existing housing stock, in development and to be created, based on the provisions of the Local Housing Strategies and the Municipal Housing Charters;
- Housing policy instruments- Collecting and making available data and information on the instruments that can be mobilized and are relevant to the development of municipal and supra-municipal housing strategies and policies, covering not only financing instruments, but also legal and regulatory instruments that support intervention in the field;
- Housing accessibility and mobility - Assessment of the average accessibility of the municipal housing stock by public transport, as well as the possibility of simulating the average accessibility by public transport of available or vacant land/buildings (integrated into the assessment of housing suitability) and the impact of changes to public transport stops/routes on municipal housing.
It is expected that it will be active in the second half of 2026, and that it will periodically produce global summaries of information and also reports with more detailed information, both on a municipal and metropolitan scale.
Diagnosis of Inadequate Housing Conditions in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area
The Diagnosis of Inadequate Housing Conditions in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area was presented in November 2022.
This groundbreaking study is the first survey of substandard housing conditions conducted on a metropolitan scale; it was produced for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area by a team from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Lisbon, led by Ana Pinho, Luís Carvalho, and David Vale.
The assessment provided an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of households living in substandard housing conditions that currently persist in the metropolitan area. In the words of the metropolitan first secretary, Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, it is “a contribution toward clarifying the scale of these complex problems and the challenging paths we must all take to resolve them, either in whole or in part.”
The diagnosis shows that there are around 50,000 households living in these conditions in the Lisbon metropolitan area (around 4% of all households in the region, out of an estimated 134,000 people).
According to the same study, about one-fifth of households in the region spend more than 400 euros on housing costs (rent or mortgage payments), which is double the national average.
The study also notes that 62% of households are in a situation of “housing unaffordability”; in other words, if they were to look for another suitable home in their municipality of residence, they would have to spend more than 40% of their income.
It is also worth noting, on a positive note, that the number of vacant housing units in the Lisbon metropolitan area has fallen by 14% over the past decade, in contrast to the trend observed in the rest of the country.
The picture painted by the assessment demonstrates the relevance of the courses of action identified by the municipalities in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area housing plan, which encompasses multiple approaches to addressing substandard housing conditions: increasing the supply of public housing, rehabilitating the existing public housing stock, rehabilitating owner-occupied housing, in cases where they are living in substandard housing (and are eligible under the 1st Right); rehabilitation of degraded housing clusters (courtyards, villages, and AUGIS); and provision of emergency and temporary housing (including situations covered by the 1st Right as “vulnerable persons”).
See the full diagnosis here.
Events
Presentation session - Guide to drawing up Municipal Housing Charters (September 2025)
The Guide to Drafting Municipal Housing Charters was presented on September 15, 2025, at the viewpoint of the headquarters of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, to an audience of more than 80 people, including mayors, representatives of institutions, technicians from the public and private sectors and students from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon.
The guide, divided into three volumes, is intended for local professionals and decision-makers who plan and implement public housing policies, but it also contributes to the development of a culture of rigorous and collaborative strategic and territorial planning in the housing sector. This document was authored by Ana Pinho, Cristina Cavaco, and Luís Carvalho of the Research Center at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, as well as by José Luís Cunha.
The guide, as noted by the first secretary of the Lisbon metropolitan area, Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, is “a technical tool to support municipalities in developing their Municipal Housing Charters,” the preparation of which “was based on a collaborative approach, grounded in scientific knowledge and accumulated practical experience, aimed at promoting integrated approaches, methodological consistency, sound reasoning, and technical quality in political decisions, as well as the effectiveness of the proposed solutions.”
For Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, the guide outlines a path that the AML must pursue further, which is to recognize “that many housing problems do not end at municipal boundaries, requiring coordinated supra-municipal responses, because growing population mobility, pressure on the markets, unaffordable housing sales and rental prices, and inequalities in access to housing are metropolitan phenomena that require collaborative, supportive, and, where necessary, joint solutions, without diminishing the responsibility of the central government.”
This point is reinforced by Helena Roseta, who notes that “municipal housing plans will write the new chapters we need to realize the right to housing for a large portion of our population.” The architect also emphasizes that this goal is only achievable with the involvement of all stakeholders in the region: “let us never forget that this cannot be achieved without the social energy of residents and their organizations, whose participation in resolving the housing problems of their communities must be recognized, encouraged, and supported, as the Constitution clearly stipulates.”
The presentation began with an opening session led by João Paulo Lopes of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, who addressed, among other issues, the fact that the drafting of the Municipal Housing Charter is currently a prerequisite for municipalities to be able to approve, where applicable, a “reasoned declaration of housing need,” thereby enabling them to make use of a set of specific instruments and receive priority funding for housing policy.
Cristina Cavaco, from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Lisbon, then gave a more detailed presentation of the Guide to Drawing Up Municipal Housing Charters.
The event also featured a roundtable discussion, moderated by Luís Carvalho of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Lisbon, on Housing and Territory: The Metropolitan Dimension.
A discussion featuring architect Helena Roseta (for whom the guide “is a valuable resource in developing a new tool for municipal housing policy”), the president of the Center for Research in Architecture, Urbanism, and Design, João Pedro Costa (who hopes “in a few years, to be able to walk through new housing neighborhoods and see how we were able to mobilize knowledge, the public administration, and the private sector to address this new urgency, better serving the people”), and the first secretary of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (who emphasized that “it is essential to find ways and measures that effectively mitigate and resolve housing problems in the region, particularly for families with lower economic means, the most disadvantaged sectors of the population, and young people who wish to start a new phase of their lives.”).
The presentation session concluded with a speech by Jorge Mealha, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Lisbon, who summarized the event and discussed the future outlook for the Aliança “New Generation of Housing” educational program. This was followed by the presentation of certificates, diplomas, and academic merit awards to students in the “IMPULSO Adultos Program.”
AML continues to reaffirm its willingness to contribute its expertise, technical capacity, and strategic vision to the development of public responses that are commensurate with the gravity of the problem and the legitimate aspirations of the people.
"Challenges that need Solutions" (November 2024)
Housing in the Lisbon metropolitan area, in its multiple dimensions and intersections, was at the center of the meeting "Challenges that need Solutions", which brought together more than 200 participants at the Carlos Avilez Auditorium in Estoril in November 2024.
The meeting, organized by the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in collaboration with the Cascais City Council, highlighted the need for a metropolitan approach to housing that can help address problems common to all municipalities in the region, the need to strengthen cooperation networks among the various levels of government, and the indispensability of political commitment on the part of the central government.
The consolidation and development of collective, collaborative, and shared processes with municipalities, the government, and other institutions active in this field is the path that we must all continue to follow.
As the country’s main engine of development, the Lisbon metropolitan area has a responsibility to help create and implement solutions for the development of the country as a whole.
The meeting was attended by local government officials, experts, and representatives from central government agencies, as well as municipal staff and representatives from other organizations involved in the housing sector.
The opening session featured Carlos Carreiras, mayor of Cascais, and Basílio Horta, president of the Lisbon Metropolitan Council.
After the opening session, the work that the Lisbon Metropolitan Area has been doing in the field of housing was presented. Projects, training actions, support for municipal action and follow-up and monitoring were highlighted.
The meeting also saw the presentation of various municipal projects underway in the municipalities of Amadora, Oeiras and Setúbal.
It also included a round table discussion on current housing challenges moderated by Jorge Gonçalves, a researcher at the University of Lisbon's Instituto Superior Técnico, with the participation of Inês de Medeiros, Mayor of Almada, Filipa Roseta, Lisbon City Councillor, Luís Ferreira, Rector of the University of Lisbon, and Henrique Joaquim, manager of the National Strategy for the Integration of People Experiencing Homelessness.
The multiple crises currently affecting the housing sector, the current coordination between the key stakeholders involved in finding solutions and the affected communities, the main challenges in implementation, the right to the city and urban planning, the need for a broader territorial approach, the situation of homeless people, and issues related to the lack of student housing were among the topics discussed.
The meeting also saw the presentation of the metropolitan observatory for housing and habitat, which is being developed by the Center for Research in Architecture, Urbanism and Design at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon. The aim of this platform is to create an instrument to support the actions of municipalities and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in the areas of housing policy, planning and management of municipal housing stock, including its monitoring and evaluation. The observatory is expected to be a permanently operational structure, supported by a database and electronic platform.
The meeting concluded with remarks by Nuno Piteira Lopes, vice-mayor of Cascais; Benjamim Pereira, president of the Institute for Housing and Urban Renewal; and Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, first metropolitan secretary.
"The paths and challenges for housing in the Lisbon metropolitan area" (November 2022)
In November 2022, the Faculty of Architecture hosted the event Paths and challenges for housing in the Lisbon metropolitan area, which was attended by Marina Gonçalves, Secretary of State for Housing, Carla Tavares, President of the Lisbon Metropolitan Council, Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, Metropolitan First Secretary, and Carlos Dias Coelho, President of the Faculty of Architecture, among other participants.
The initiative, organized by the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, brought together a number of experts who discussed, from various perspectives, the need and urgency of developing a public response to the substandard housing conditions that persist in the region.
Speaking before an attentive audience of about 150 people, Secretary of State for Housing Marina Gonçalves emphasized that the Lisbon Metropolitan Area’s housing plan is “an appropriate response to those in need of decent housing” and reflects “a new vision of housing as a pillar of the welfare state.”
Carla Tavares, president of the Lisbon Metropolitan Council, stressed that "the plan by the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the municipalities is an important step towards finding new solutions in the field of housing, and reflects a new path towards reducing the asymmetries that are still very pronounced in the region".
Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, the metropolitan first secretary, highlighted all the work done in this area by the AML, noting, however, “that there is still much to be done, and that the AML is deeply committed to providing every possible support to cooperate with the municipalities, so that fewer and fewer people find themselves in situations of housing deprivation and exclusion.”
The initiative also served to publicize the Diagnosis of Inadequate Housing Conditions in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, produced for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area by a team from the University of Lisbon's Faculty of Architecture.
At the end of the initiative, there was a lively round table discussion on housing shortages and solutions in the Lisbon metropolitan area, moderated by journalist Filomena Lança, from Jornal de Negócios, with the participation of Rui Estríbio, from the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation, Ana Vitória Azevedo, from Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, Jorge Malheiros, from the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning and Frederico Arruda, from Refundos and the Urban Land Institute.
Carlos Dias Coelho, dean of the School of Architecture, also emphasized the importance of this event for his institution.