In Portugal, “overnight, rents rose from single to double” – Liberation

More and more Portuguese, including the middle class, are no longer able to find housing due to rising prices. In question are policies supporting unrestricted tourism and legislation that provides little protection for renters.

We read on his face, despite his love, all the hardships of the world. And in his conservative approach as well. Ricardo, 57, seems to wonder how he ended up there: wearing an oversized navy blue tracksuit in the middle of a makeshift camp, in one of the last green spaces in Cascais, an affluent suburb of Lisbon. Aside from his caravan, which was perfectly tidy and watched over by his white cat Petosha, there are only the Quechua douche – a kind of raised vertical hut with a bowl of water – and his 1980s Suzuki motorcycle. “I didn’t see anything coming” said the old gardener. His last small business dates back to 2021. He now only receives €210 per month in aid from the Portuguese state. His mother and aunt, with whom he lived, died earlier this year. “The landlord took the opportunity to carry out the work and charge an impossible rent.”

Everything he has left, he owes to Paula, a childhood friend from his neighborhood in Parede, not far away. “I am lucky enough to have a paid home, a permanent job, She confesses. So every day I bring him something: water to drink, batteries to charge his phone, a mosquito net, a gas bottle… There is no way I can give up my friend Ricardo! “I just hope it doesn’t last forever.” She was the one who bought him this used caravan. I also found a place for it in this environment of pine and palm forests