The housing protests have spread to 32 cities

Tens of thousands marched for housing across Portugal on Saturday. It’s Sunday, 15 November. Nineteen degrees. Air quality: 17 to 33 (Good). Here’s what you need to know.

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TENS OF THOUSANDS MARCH FOR HOUSING IN 32 CITIES, AND THE NEXT PROTEST IS ALREADY SET

Housing protesters filled the streets of 32 towns and cities on Saturday, from Lisbon and Porto to Faro, Bragança and Funchal, under the slogan “They won’t steal our right to a home”. In Lisbon, the march left Alameda Dom Afonso Henriques in the afternoon and headed down Avenida Almirante Reis towards Martim Moniz, with marchers ranging from children to pensioners. Portugal Resident put the Lisbon crowd at as many as 60,000, and a reporter for the TV channel SIC said turnout had gone beyond what the organisers expected. In Porto, thousands marched in the rain to Praça D. João I, where protesters have camped on and off since early October.

The march was organised by Casa Para Viver, a platform of around 100 housing associations and groups that has been holding protests since 2023. It wants the government’s proposed rental reform dropped, tighter rules on property speculation, short-term holiday lets, evictions, empty homes, rents and contracts, and more public housing. Its spokespeople ridiculed the government’s use of €2,300 as a “moderate” benchmark when more than half of workers in Portugal earn less than €1,000.

The rental reform at the centre of it would speed up evictions and loosen the rules on rental contracts. It was approved in principle by parliament with votes from the governing Social Democrats, the Liberal Initiative and the conservative CDS-PP, with Chega, the far-right party, abstaining, and is now back in committee. Critics have nicknamed it the eviction law.

President António José Seguro spent three hours on Friday with representatives of Casa Para Viver and the Lisbon and Porto protest camps, and said he wants to bring everyone with a stake together to solve the crisis. He took no side on matters for parliament and the government, but protesters said he was moved by their accounts of police violence at the camps. The platform says it has already met the Left Bloc, the green-left Livre and the Communists, with the Socialists and the animal welfare party PAN next week, while the government and the Social Democrats haven’t replied to its request for a meeting. Socialist leader José Luís Carneiro has proposed a fund for councils to build homes.

Bottom line: the rental reform is still going through parliament, and with another march already called for 12 December, the pressure on the government isn’t letting up.

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Portugal’s promised disaster insurance still doesn’t exist. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced a natural and seismic catastrophe fund in April, after the storms earlier this year, with compulsory insurance for homes and business premises. More than six months on, there’s still no law, no defined cover and no start date, and the agency running the national recovery programme now expects to finish the work in 2027. The gap it’s meant to close is large. Of an estimated €5.3bn in losses from this year’s storms, only around €1.4bn was insured. Gabriel Bernardino, head of the insurance supervisor, has also warned that homeowners insured for less than the cost of rebuilding may only receive a proportional payout.

The cost of a basic food basket in Portugal has risen again. DECO PROteste, the consumer association, says its basket of 63 essentials reached €256.73 in the week to 11 November. That’s up 79 cents in seven days, €11.78 on a year ago and almost 37% on January 2022. Over the past year, large cod has risen 32% to €21.95 a kilo and carapau, horse mackerel, is up a third to €5.80 a kilo. In the latest week alone, a loaf of sliced bread rose 15% to €2.66. The squeeze shows in how people shop. In a survey published in October by DECO, the Catholic University of Portugal and Mercadona, 53% of adults said their purchasing power had fallen over the past year, and around three in four said they regularly compare prices, chase promotions and buy own-brand.

Lisbon’s Rossio Christmas market is due to open today, two days late. It was meant to open on Friday, but Storm Charles slowed the installation of the stalls, after weeks of uncertainty while the housing protest camp occupied the square from 17 October until it took down its tents on 9 November. The Baixa traders’ association that runs the market went to court to secure the space, saying around 80 traders stood to lose out, and last year’s market brought in about €1.5m. It runs until 21 December, free to enter, from 10am to 10pm Sunday to Thursday and until 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, with a free electric train through the Baixa.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

RUGO (ALVALADE)

Fresh pasta, made every morning, is what Rugo does. The classics are here, linguine with clams, garlic and parsley and a casarecce bolognese, but the dishes diners are ordering are the less obvious ones. Think prawn ravioli with bisque, fennel and coconut milk, pappardelle with a saffron and local sausage ragù under stracciatella, and trottole with black truffle and shiitake. To start, there’s burrata with tomato and hazelnut pesto, and broccolini with smoked pepper sauce. For dessert, there’s a focaccia French toast with salted caramel ice cream.

It opened at the end of October in the old Padaria Portuguesa on Avenida Rio de Janeiro, across the road from the Alvalade market. The owners live in the neighbourhood and pitched it at local families, down to a tiramisù made without alcohol. There’s a long room with an open kitchen at the back, a big shared table by the door and a terrace outside, and the cocktail or mocktail list is worth a look before ordering wine.

It’s open every day, all day on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with mains from €16.50 to €21. It’s a big room, so it suits groups and families more than a quiet dinner for two.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: order the focaccia, which the kitchen made crunchier here than at its sister restaurants after a customer asked for a crisper base.

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