Feature Portugal housing crisis: ‘I’ll

The landlady’s been chasing me since 2018, she says she needs the flat - now there’s an eviction notice.”

Georgina Simões is a carer at a nursing home in the Portuguese capital Lisbon. She earns just above the minimum wage.

Her rent, at €300 (£262) a month, is low by the city’s current standards. But she still has to work two jobs to afford it. And conditions at the property are poor - she can’t shower because water leaks into the neighbours’ flat.

“I don’t leave because when I look for houses my salary isn’t enough, even to pay rent. Rent prices are above the wages we have in Portugal.”

Georgina’s circumstances are far from unique. Average rent in Lisbon is now just over €2,000, while the minimum wage is about €760.

Portugal is currently grappling with a severe housing crisis, triggered by an increase in foreign investment in property and a lack of affordable new homes.

But it’s not simply an issue of supply. Researcher and activist Rita Silva, who helped set up the housing movement Habita, says there are “more houses than people, but prices don’t go down”.

She adds that the current crisis - which has sparked numerous campaigns pushing for more affordable housinghas spread across the country over several years following the financial crisis of 2008.

The case involving Georgina, the carer, is now in the courts, and she hopes to remain at her property for a further six months. Her lawyer is trying to buy her that time.

What happens if she loses, I ask.

“I’ll be out on the streets,” she says. “I don’t have a chance, I don’t know what will happen. I just need a roof to sleep under - I spend my life at work.”