The Algarve is experiencing a housing emergency, translating into a human emergency, with an increase in illegal constructions and precarious living conditions for workers. The region has seen significant population growth, with the municipality of Loulé gaining over 24,000 residents between 2011 and 2025, while the average housing price rose by about 75% in the same municipality. Public tenders for social housing construction are going unanswered because real costs exceed reference values.
The Loulé Municipality is undertaking projects for over a hundred housing units and continues to acquire properties, but acknowledges the difficulty in responding to the scale of demographic pressure with outdated territorial management instruments. The Algarve Regional Spatial Planning Plan, approved in 2007, does not reflect the region's current reality, leading to dignified and planned solutions being replaced by precarious and illegal settlements.
The text criticizes the lack of democracy in territorial matters, where Municipal Master Plans are subject to opinions from unelected regional entities that are not accountable to citizens. Elected officials lack decision-making power, with processes getting stuck in endless bureaucratic loops, harming families waiting for homes. This situation leads to mayors being penalized at the polls for decisions they could not make.
The article calls for the State to 'wake up,' questioning if extreme situations, like those seen in Lisbon, Madrid, or Porto, are necessary before the reality of the Algarve is addressed. The patience of the working population has run out, and the streets may respond if the State does not.
“"We need bold decisions. We need to decide now. We need to act for the people, for the economy, and for the security and future of our region. We must have courage; emergency situations require strong leaders capable of putting people at the core of their actions. In Loulé, we act, but we act only within an inadequate legal framework, with powers misaligned with the real needs of the territory and the people."
The Loulé Municipality demands the urgent completion of the PROT Algarve revision, an exceptional regime to release land for affordable housing with short deadlines, the eradication of container housing with dignified solutions, a specific financing line for regions under extraordinary demographic pressure, and a profound reform of the state structure to return decision-making power to local elected officials.
It concludes that housing is not a technical issue but the minimum condition for a community's existence, and decision-making close to the people is the minimum condition for democracy. The text warns that if the State does not wake up now, it will be too late for the Algarve.
