18 one-bedroom, 38 two-bedroom and 34 three-bedroom flats, with prices ranging from €100,000 to around €200,000, will be allocated tomorrow.
Faro’s Teatro das Figuras is hosting a public draw tomorrow at 15h00 to allocate 90 apartments to be sold at affordable prices. Located in Faro’s Lejana de Baixo area, next to the Estrada da Senhora da Saúde and Rua Capitães de Abril (parallel to Avenida Calouste Gulbenkian), the flats are divided into two blocks that are currently under construction.
Faro Mayor Rogério Bacalhau visited a model apartment in the first block, which should be completed by the end of the year, while the second building block should be completed in the first quarter of next year. “It would be good if some families could already spend Christmas here”, said the mayor.
In all, 90 apartments will be allocated – 18 one-bedroom, 38 two-bedroom and 34 three-bedroom flats – each with a balcony, parking, and dimensions stipulated by the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU), with prices ranging from €100,000 to around €200,000.
These “affordable” prices are only possible because the Faro town hall owned the land and put it up for sale at public auction at a lower price than market value.
Sixty per cent of the flats will be allocated to young people up to 35 years old, 20% to people with disabilities and the remaining 20% to the general contingent, which covers the rest of the population.
During his visit to the model apartment, Rogério Bacalhau revealed that a total of 780 people applied to purchase the apartments, 734 of which qualified for the draw.
“These numbers reveal that there is much more need than for these 90 dwellings, and that is why we have included them in our Local Housing Strategy”, says the mayor.
The Municipality explains that the problem is the lack of land to build on, both for affordable and social housing. Faro is a municipality where the population has grown, but the existing housing has not kept up with demand.
“According to the Census, in the last five years, Faro has increased by more than a thousand apartments, but the population grew by 10%, and these apartments did not respond to [the needs of] six thousand people”, underlined Bacalhau.
To tackle the housing shortage, the Municipality reveals it is working on 275 more projects in rural areas for the coming years in collaboration with the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU). These include 70 more affordable housing and 132 social housing units in Braciais (Patacão), which will belong to the Municipality. While in the parish of Montenegro, 49 residences are also being built to house the fishermen who still live in Praia de Faro.
