The increase in the cost of living and, mainly, in the price of rent and properties for sale in Portugal generated a wave of demonstrations in the country. The protests began with the occupation of a square in the city of Porto, three weeks ago, where protesters set up tents.
Days later, a similar occupation began in Praça do Rossio, a well-known tourist spot in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. The so-called “camps” generated violent reactions from the police, who carried out operations to forcibly dismantle the camps, alleging that they were illegally installed in a public area.
Reports published on social media and by Portuguese parliamentarians denounce injuries suffered by some protesters.
This did not prevent the tents from being reassembled after each attack by the Portuguese police force. That weekend, the Lisbon Administrative Court authorized the occupation of Rossio Square to continue until November 24th.
Lisbon traders are concerned about the impacts on trade in the region and also about the holding of a Christmas market, which is scheduled to be set up in Praça do Rossio, starting on November 14th.
Housing cost
According to the Pordata portal, maintained by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, the cost of housing in Portugal rose 41.5% from 2020 to 2025. It was the biggest increase in the entire European Union, which had an average increase of 3.2% in the period. Greece, which appears in second place in the Pordata ranking, for example, had a price increase of 37.8%.
A report released by the European Council, in partnership with Deustche Bank, at the end of last year, showed that renting a property in Lisbon costs on average 116% of the average salary of an inhabitant of the Portuguese capital. It is the only one of the 22 cities surveyed (including several capitals, such as Paris, Rome, Madrid and Berlin) where an average income is insufficient to pay rent.
According to the same study, the ideal is for rent to represent a maximum of 30% of salaries.
Brazilian activist Priscila Valadão, who is also a Portuguese citizen, is one of the spokespeople for the camp movement. She emigrated to Portugal 12 years ago and felt the difficulty of fitting the rent into her monthly budget.
"In the center of Lisbon, you cannot find a loft-style apartment, which we call T0 here, for less than 1,500 euros, given that the Portuguese minimum wage is 920 euros. So, it is simply impossible for a person to live in the city", he highlights.
Even today, after more than a decade in Portugal, Priscila still needs to use strategies to pay the rent. She currently lives far from the center of Lisbon, where she shares a property with another person.
"The vast majority of people end up living in a room. There is no other way for you to live in Lisbon. This also extends to the outskirts of the city. I can give my example. I currently live with a young girl. I have to share a house because I can't afford a house on my own. And, even so, I live on the outskirts of the city, in the metropolitan region."
According to her, Brazilians, like many immigrants, end up having more difficulties than the Portuguese themselves in finding housing.
"Twelve years ago, I saw people say that property owners, when they heard on the phone that [the potential renter] was a Brazilian, hung up the phone and said that the apartment was already rented. And it was a lie," he says.
"I also heard reports that one of the conditions [for renting to Brazilians] was to ask for 12 rents [rents] in advance so that you could make a down payment on the apartment. And it's getting worse and worse, with the growing xenophobia and racism that have been happening in our daily lives", highlights Priscila, who has received numerous threats for her involvement in the demonstrations.
According to the Portuguese Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (Aima), Brazilians are the largest foreign community in that country, with 493 thousand people, that is, a third of the total number of immigrants in Portugal and 4% of the country's total population (11.4 million).
This number does not consider those with dual nationality, so the total number of Brazilians living in the European country is even higher. The Brazilian Embassy in Lisbon reported that it “closely follows the demonstrations”.
Priscila Valadão explains that, among the reasons for the increase in housing costs in Portugal, are real estate speculation, mainly related to foreign investment funds, and the use of properties for temporary accommodation for tourists.
Brazilian investors, in fact, are part of the problem of real estate speculation, according to Priscila. Restricting the purchase of properties by real estate funds is one of the demands of protest participants.
Protesters also criticize the new law on rents (called “rents” or “leases” in Portugal), which is being processed in Parliament and which could make life even more difficult for those who need to rent property to have a place to live.
Among the changes proposed by the New Urban Lease Regime are the reduction of the time for evictions, the end of the 2% limit for readjustments in contracts, the increase in the value of the security deposit and the possibility of refusal, by the owner, of an automatic renewal of the contract.
Protesters are also calling for an expansion of the supply of public housing (built and offered by the Portuguese State) and the transformation of empty public and private buildings into affordable housing.
There are also demands about controlling inflation and increasing salaries.
According to the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, the government has a plan to invest in public housing and “boost” private properties.
The total investments planned for the sector are 10 billion euros. Among the policies announced by Montenegro is the construction of 133 thousand homes, financed by the Republic's budget and the European Investment Bank.
At the end of October, he said that the rent law has to be good for owners and tenants. "A fair balance that requires courage, requires change, modification. That's what we are doing. I believe that these new rules, once they are all in force and operational, will promote a greater ability for people to see their problem resolved."
Also at the end of October, the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, stated that the government is implementing “the biggest housing program in recent decades”, which combines support for the purchase and rental of properties, with incentives for construction and measures aimed at placing currently empty houses on the market.
