Lisbon City Council approved the proposal for a local referendum on restricting rentals to tourists in residential buildings.
The measure seeks to contain the city’s housing crisis and rising rental prices – which have forced many people to leave the capital.
This could also put an end to the approximately 20,000 short-term contracts, such as the Airbnb service in Lisbon, providing housing opportunities for local residents.
“This is around 8% of the city’s total housing stock and we are in a crisis where we need houses to live in,” said Raquel Antunes, 23-year-old project manager and member of the Housing Referendum Movement.
Raquel said that the movement was not against tourism, but that these rentals are taking houses off the real estate market and increasing property prices.
Supply and demand
In Lisbonrental prices have more than doubled in the last decade, according to housing data experts from the consultancy Confidencial Imobiliário. House prices also soared by 200%.
Since 2015, new hotels and vacation rentals have grown rapidly in Lisbonwhen the tourism boom began to gather pace in the city.
Although this boosted the local economy, it ended up putting pressure on the real estate market and sparked protests in the capital and other cities by residents struggling to have a place to live.
The referendum could set a precedent for other European cities like Barcelona that face similar challenges.
After approval of the referendum by the Chamber, the Constitutional Court must approve the questions on the referendum ballot, which could be held in the first half of 2025.
This would be the first vote in Lisbon carried out by popular initiative.
This content was originally published in Lisbon will hold a referendum that prohibits renting properties to tourists on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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