“What the State needs to do is to pass a law, whether in terms of the issue of taxation, or in terms of the termination of the contract for non-payment of rent, which binds the State and the private sector for 20 years”, said Rui Moreira.

Speaking to journalists, the independent mayor gave the example of the Netherlands to show how “trust” is created in investors regarding taxation and leasing.

“In the Netherlands, taxation in relation to housing and the issue of the tenancy law has not changed for decades and, thus, confidence is created. If the law changes every year, no one trusts it. There would have to be an understanding between the main parties, guaranteeing and agreeing that, for 20 years, it was that law that people could count on,” he said.

Rui Moreira stressed that, despite times having changed, the State has been repeating “successively the same mistakes” regarding affordable rent.

“Killing the goose that lays the golden egg”

“Year after year, with successive changes in fiscal policies, we are compromising interest by passing on to landlords what social policies are. We run the risk of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,” he defended.

During his speech at the housing forum, the mayor of Porto stated that the country's biggest difficulty is related to the fact that it was not “able to truly create a rental market”.

“We managed to inherit the worst of the former Salazar regime, make the landlords pay for social policies and, so on, we kill any possibility of attracting private investors to an effort that should be primarily of the State, but in which it is necessary involve private capital”, said Rui Moreira.