Local MP Paulo Sá has questioned the government on the "brutal" rent increases in Vila Real de Santo António that are affecting some of the poorest people in the council area.
A delegation including Comminist Party MP Paulo Sá recently visited the Bairro da Caixa in Vila Real de Santo António to hear residents' complaints about the unaffordable rent increases which he has relayed to the government.
The downtrodden area is inhabited by low income households, predominantly pensioners, the unemployed and low-wage workers, according to the Communists.
The residents have received from the Office of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation "a hike in rents that is unaffordable for the vast majority of families."
The new rental values were “recognised by Parliament, at various times, as being based on socially unjust criteria" said the Communist MP recalling that several attempts in parliament to have this situation redressed have been voted down.
Paulo Sá questioned the Ministry of Environment about whether the government recognises that in the current economic crisis, "households in the neighborhood of Bairro da Caixa in Vila Real de Santo António do not have financial resources to cope with the brutal rent increases that are being imposed?"
