“The housing problem in Portugal, unfortunately, today is not just a problem for poor families, the housing problem is a problem for the middle class, for the children of the middle class, and that is why not only do we have to promote private and cooperative construction, but the State must also assume its responsibility to build for the middle class, as happens in many European countries”, he argued.

“The Government, with regard to public construction, is only focused on building housing for the needy population. There is currently no discourse or commitment to building for the middle class, and for us, it is essential that public housing policy responds to the difficulties of the middle class,” he argued.

Pedro Nuno Santos said that international and national politicians talk about the need to increase defense spending, but “housing is one of the biggest problems” and it is necessary to “increase national spending on housing”.

According to the socialist leader, it will only be possible to “have the support of the population and the middle class for public construction programs if they are not excluded from this public construction program.”

“Conditions must be created so that the private sector can build more, build more for the middle class, which is where we really have difficulties, but the State also has to scale up its construction, not only for the neediest families but for middle-income populations, for the middle class,” he argued.

According to the former minister of this area, it is necessary to “scale up a lot” in this type of construction and go from “20,000 per year to numbers approaching 40,000, 50,000 per year”, a number that already existed in the past and to which we need to return.

“This implies supporting the private construction sector, but also public construction,” he argued.