Portugal

Context at a glance

Rosa Coelho praises God that she no longer has to live in the shack visible through the window behind her in Cunha, Portugal

For many low-income Portuguese families, housing is a major concern. 65% of them live in dilapidated housing and 8.5% in shacks. One of the biggest challenges of HFH Portugal is to change the culture of subsidy dependency. The Governmental Social Housing Programme has shown some effectiveness, in terms of numbers, at re-housing families that were living in poor conditions. But the nurturing and educational programmes that should be provided for these families after they have moved into their new homes do not exist. Social problems such as alcoholism, illiteracy, exclusion, lack of basic healthcare and the creation of ‘social ghettos’ are not solved with this kind of assistance. Only by promoting community living and inclusion of these families into the local community is it possible to break this cycle of poverty.

Poverty housing in Portugal is countrywide, with two distinctive kinds of housing: in the rural areas, the ‘hidden poverty’ (the typical Portuguese home with a small orchard that hides the disgraceful housing conditions) and in the big cities, shacks. Since the 1970’s Portugal has been the destination country for immigrants from the former Portuguese colonies and Brazil and, more recently, for immigrants from former Soviet Union countries. The need for housing is growing, especially in the urban areas of the country.

Habitat for Humanity programme

Habitat for Humanity started work in Portugal in 1996. Two groups of international volunteers and local volunteers helped to build the first Habitat house in the town of Vieira do Minho, which was completed in 1999. A further 12 houses were completed by 2002.

Although there is always a great need for simple, decent homes, Habitat struggles to find land on which to build. So in 2002, we began renovating existing houses.

The homes are made of traditional Portuguese materials: bricks, red roof tiles, green shutters on the windows, and ceramic tiles inside the houses. They have two to three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom and are between 66 and 108 square metres in size. The mortgage repayments are an average of £65 over 25 years.

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