Petr Adam Dohnálek / wikimedia
City Council Building in Vila Nova de Gaia
The city hall says it is looking for new housing for 10 families affected by the purchase of Rua Garcia de Orta. Some of the tenants’ contracts expire at the end of the month.
Vila Nova de Gaia City Council announced the creation of a team dedicated to accompany families on Rua Garcia de Orta who face the possibility of losing their housing after non-renewal of lease contracts. The decision comes just a few weeks before the end of the first contracts and after successive appeals from residents to the municipality.
The announcement was made by the vice-president of the chamber, Firmino Pereira, during this Tuesday’s municipal executive meeting. According to the mayor, the objective is to find, “as far as possible, a solution for these 10 families”, some of whom have lived in the area for several decades, cites .
The 13 houses on Rua Garcia de Orta, in the parish of Mafamude, were acquired earlier this year by a new ownerwhich informed tenants that their contracts would not be renewed. While some contracts end on June 30th, others expire at the end of July.
Faced with growing concern, the city council decided to assemble a team made up of the Secretary of Urban Planning, Antônio Barbosa, the director of the Urban Planning department, Paulo Amaral, and a representative from Gaiurb, a municipal company responsible for managing popular housing. The mission will be evaluate housing alternatives and monitor the processes of affected families.
The socialist opposition criticized, however, the delay in the municipal response. Councilor João Paulo Correia considered that “a month was lost” since the problem was first presented to the executive.
The situation has become more complex due to the reduced number of housing alternatives available. Six residents are already registered with Gaiurb to access social housing, but the waiting list currently exceeds two thousand people.
The city also revealed that a request submitted in 2024 to demolish the 13 houses and build new buildings on the site was rejected. According to Firmino Pereira, the location of the properties, integrated into a heritage protection zone of Escola Primária do Cedro, makes significant urban changes difficult.
