The flip-side of tourism and the booming holiday rentals sector is that rents have increased ‘across the board’, a situation that Lagos Council is now attempting to tackle by helping local families – not otherwise classified as ‘in need’ – to pay monthly rents.
Says tabloid Correio da Manhã, the move is completely new and the mechanism underpinning it should come into effect within the next few months.
Mayoress Joaquina Matos told the paper: “The cost of rents is very high. We want to help those who cannot pay”:
Conditions of access to the scheme, and the value to which the council will help, are still being defined, she said – but there will be no shortage of families applying.
In October last year, for example, the council had around 400 requests for help from local families, most of them living in the town areas, but also in outlying villages from Odiáxere to Barão de São João.
