"We have about 70,000 apartments in local housing, all over the country [...]. If we had part of the apartments, of these 70,000, which are residential apartments, [if part of them] could be mobilised for housing, it would be a great help for that which is the emergency and urgency of the housing situation", said the Minister of Housing, Marina Gonçalves, in an interview with Lusa.

Marina Gonçalves has no forecasts on the number of these houses that could be rented out, but she has no doubts: "The more that come from this number, the better response we will have in the housing market".

The Mais Habitação program includes tax incentives, so that anyone moving a house from local accommodation (AL) to renting is exempt from IRS on rent for several years, also having no limits on the definition of the rent value. On the other hand, in areas of urban pressure, the AL will be subject to an extraordinary contribution of 20% - which is levied on a portion of the income generated and whose calculation takes into account the average rental values and the property's revenue.

The objective of this measure is, says the minister, to create incentives that mobilise and not force change. "I'm not forcing, I'm not putting an end to local accommodation, I'm not forcing people to move to leasing, I'm creating an incentive to say: leasing is appealing", she stresses.