Send the police immediately to work out... That's not how it is, criticizes Helena Roseta

Country "Send the police immediately to exercise... It's not like that," criticizes Helena Roseta "Those who govern must listen to those who protest," the demand is made by the architect and former deputy. Photo: Jorge Carmona Regarding the demonstrations and the police's action, Pedro Barosa, a lawyer, asks to look at both sides. "If there is any police officer who has 'worked out' a demonstrator who did not offer resistance and did not assault or threaten, that officer must be judged and punished. This is unequivocal," but adds that "we cannot disregard that the crime of damage also existed here. Have you seen what they did to the cultural heritage? Have you seen what they did to the statue of Dom Pedro V? Those graffiti on that statue clearly constitute the practice of a crime." Pedro Barosa explains that "the fundamental right to manifest and assemble is not an absolute right. It can be limited and conditioned when it conflicts with other rights," and, on the other hand, "if there were assaults by the police against peaceful citizens who did not resist or who did not manifest any serious violence or threat, it is evident that this action must be scrutinized and there must be an investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Inspectorate-General of Internal Administration." Turning to Helena Roseta, the former deputy admits that "a mistake we made was to reverse what had been done before, in 2012 with the Assunção Cristas law." She defends this now because "we cannot spend our lives reversing what everyone does." "If we go in this juggling act - the Right pulls to one side, the Left pulls to another - we have no solution for the housing problem. What we need is to find points of consensus, which never happen. Everyone pulls to their side. We are all against each other," she defends. In the Public Consultation program, the architect leaves two recommendations to face the housing crisis. "I would like Parliament to create an independent Commission, with specialists, and prepare a code that puts some order on this rental legislation that needs a deep review." Specifically regarding what she calls the "parallel market. It is a market that is not being monitored." Helena Roseta also defends "the creation of a kind of ASAE for housing. It is not to regulate the rental market. I just want it to make a verification in both renting and buying and selling the quality-price control." The former deputy wants "to be sure that what is asked corresponds to what the person is paying." A suggestion rejected by Luís Menezes Leitão. The president of the Lisbon Property Owners Association rebuts saying that "there was talk here of lack of strategies... thousands of strategies have appeared, which one is the most absurd." For Menezes Leitão "the solution is what the Government has been doing very timidly: to reverse everything that the Government of António Costa has done wrong since 2015." The representative of the owners understands that "it is from when António Costa came to power and resolved to undo everything that had been done in matters of housing that we ended up in this situation." "Cauldron of social problems very difficult to control" In the Public Consultation, both landlords and tenants recalled that they have been warning about what has now become more evident. "We are facing what is surely the biggest constraint of Portuguese politics and which, if not treated and without a clearly defined strategy, can turn into a cauldron of social problems very difficult to control for the next Governments," the warning is made by Pedro Ventura. The president of the Lisbon Tenants Association refers that "the latest events have shown that there was a latent problem in our country and that it ended up overflowing." "It was a lid on a pot that had been heating up for many, many years. Problems and incapacities to solve the housing problem were accumulating and when this happens, protests end up increasing," he adds. Pedro Ventura reveals that in the association he receives many young people and elderly whose "limitation that exists in housing and prices prevent them from realizing some dreams." The journalist Frederico Moreno asks: "do you believe the Government will take more measures?" Romain Valentino, from the Housing Today Collective, answers: "we hope so, but we think it is unlikely because when it comes to housing, the Government talks about immigration, security issues, and vandalism. Therefore, it is not from where I see that we will get an answer." In Romain Valentino's opinion, the answer should not also come from the market. "The market cannot be the one to answer the housing problem because the market, by essence, is made up of actors who try to achieve the greatest possible profit," and he also states that landlords should not be the ones to determine who has or does not have access to housing. "The rules for access to houses cannot be made by landlords. The duty to guarantee and regulate this right belongs to the State. The State must provide the means and provide the means not and have two percent of the housing stock made public with supported rent," he concludes. "Polarization between tenants and landlords is very dangerous" "Us being here with speeches that encourage polarization between the ruiners and the good... this can cause reactions that are not the most desirable," the warning comes from Sandra Marques Pereira. The sociologist, a specialist in housing, warns that "this polarization between tenants and landlords is very dangerous." For the teacher, "the focus of all policies must be on renting" by seeing the enormous pressure on renting, with people being "pushed to rent." Sandra Marques Pereira laments the lack of data about the rental market. "There is no data. There is an enormous gap in all the policies of this Government: there are no information reinforcement measures." Because, in this way, "we cannot make a policy completely blindly." "I have no sanitation and I live on 12 volts" In the Algarve, the journalist Tatiana Felício found the case of a divorced father who, due to his expenses, cannot support the housing costs. The solution he found was to live illegally in a campervan, without water or electricity. The Public Consultation program is moderated by the journalist Frederico Moreno.