The protocol between the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) and the General Directorate of School Administration (DGAE) was signed in Portimão, and aims to help “settle displaced teachers in regions where access to housing is difficult.

In a statement the two ministries say that the IHRU has already identified 15 apartments in the centre of Portimão and 14 apartments in Lisbon.

The houses are also intended for displaced health professionals, in addition to teachers, and a similar protocol for this purpose should be signed shortly.

“With this protocol, conditions are created for displaced professionals to access a house at affordable costs for their budgets, as well as contributing to increasing the size of the public housing stock, providing it with greater capacity to respond to different types of housing shortages existing in the national territory”, underlines the Government.

Cited in the statement, the Minister of Education, João Costa, says that "it is a fundamental first step to retain teachers in regions where housing is a specific problem for the teaching class".

The Minister of Housing, Marina Gonçalves, adds that the housing policy, being universal, must also ensure “responses to specific situations” such as that of displaced professionals.