Financial help
Housing in Lisbon is struggling!
Due to gentrification, prices are getting higher every year and the government is making available some financial assistance for housing.
For each specific programme there are requirements that need to be filled in order to receive.
It’s also important to mention that it’s needed to wait some time from the applications to the approval!
But most of them have the retroactivity rule active: this means that once you got the approval, you will receive the percentage of money starting from the date of the application.
First of all, people who want to ask for financial help, need to have a NIF (Numero de Identificaçao Fiscal and have already been subscribed to the Portal das finanças. You need to already have your access (password) where you can access all your fiscal information. (Please check more here: Good tips)
The platform where we can find all types of financial aids, house related are the two: Portal de Habitação e Habitar Lisboa.
The Portal da Habitação and the Habitar Lisboa Platform are two distinct tools designed to support citizens in accessing housing in Portugal, each with a specific scope and functionalities.
Portal da Habitação
The Portal da Habitação is a national initiative managed by the Instituto da Habitação e da Reabilitação Urbana (IHRU), which centralizes public housing policies in Portugal. This portal provides services, programs, and financial support instruments for housing and urban rehabilitation.
Habitar Lisboa Platform
The Habitar Lisboa Platform is a digital tool developed by the Lisbon City Council, specifically for Lisbon residents.
Residents can register their interest and apply for housing programs offered by the Lisbon Municipality and users are allowed to track the status of their applications and communicate with municipal services.
Let’s explore specifically the two platforms and programmes!
Once you log in, you can decide between several options, we are going to focus on the following that is related to people who are renting a house: “Preciso de apoio financeiro”
And you can click on “Simuladores” and use this option to simulate your financial situation: this means that we have the opportunity to check if we have all the requirements to receive it, before starting to look for the needed documents.
Clicking on “Preciso de apoio financeiro”, we need to click on “para pagar renda” that means to pay the house rent.
The majority of the programmes have specific requirements and documents to attach while applying:
Be sure to have :
- Promise of contract or registered contract at Portal das Finanças
- Identification documents of all residents
- IRS (declaration of incomes of the past year or the last 3 payslip before the date of submission)
- Some of them are only for national citizens or foreigners already with a permanent residence permit (after more than 5 years living in the country)
Here you have the list of all the programmes that provide financial assistance for house renting in Lisbon, specifically for young people (until 35 years old).
Programmes:
1. Porta 65-Jovem Program
Designed for young individuals aged 18 to 35, the Porta 65-Jovem program offers financial support for renting accommodations. It provides a monthly subsidy to help cover rental costs, encouraging independent living among young people.
Where to apply:
https://www.portaldahabitacao.pt/pt/porta65j/index.html
How to apply: you can go click on the “Novas candidaturas” and provide required documents and informations
You will need to log in via Portal das finanças and will need the following documents.
- Promise of contract or contract
- Identification documents of all residents
- IRS (declaration of income of the past year or the last 3 payslip before the date of submission)
2. Program is “Porta de entrada”
A program for people in urgent need of a house who have been privatized in temporary or definitive way by their house or in the imminent risk of being in this situation.
3. 1º Direito – Support Program for Access to Housing
This program assists individuals and families living in inadequate housing conditions who lack the financial means to improve their situation. It focuses on rehabilitating buildings and promoting social inclusion through housing support.
Programmes in the Platform Habitar Lisboa: Habitar Lisboa
1. Programa de Arrendamento Apoiado (Supported Rental Program)
This program aims to provide social housing at below-market prices for people with financial hardship for low-income families or individuals in financial difficulty.
Public housing with income-based rent: the rent is calculated based on the household’s income, ensuring it remains affordable.
2. Programa de Arrendamento Acessível (Affordable Rental Program)
It’s a programme directly linked to private landlords, with regulation and support from the government in order to increase access to affordable rental housing in the private market for middle-income individuals and families who do not qualify for social housing but struggle with high rental prices.
3. Subsídio Municipal ao Arrendamento Acessível (Municipal Subsidy for Affordable Rental)
It’s a direct financial aid provided by Lisbon City Council to help Lisbon residents with moderate incomes who need financial support to afford rent.
The Lisbon municipality provides a direct subsidy to tenants to help cover rent costs. This is an additional financial aid, separate from the Affordable Rental Program.Offered by the Lisbon City Council, it provides financial aid to tenants spending more than 30% of their income on rent in the private market. This subsidy aims to alleviate the financial burden on residents struggling with high rental costs.
To apply to one of these programmes, you need to access the platform Habitar Lisboa.
First thing first, and you will need to authenticate your access through your “Chave Movel Digital”.
To create chave movel digital, go to this article: Chave Movel Digital
There i also a service to assist people to apply to this financial help:
800 910 211 | 218 170 552 (choose option 2 and then 4 to talk with assistance
Unfortunately most of the information in the site is in portuguese, so we suggest you ask for help from some portuguese speakers to better navigate into information.
Here you have some articles in english:
https://www2.gov.pt/en/servicos/candidatar-se-ao-porta-65-jovem
In case you feel you need some legal advice for your specific situation, you can contact:
Habita colectivo
