Struggles against financialisation of housing in Lisbon – the case of Habita

Abstract

Social movements can seek to challenge the variety of housing financialisation processes in different ways. Focussing on the case of the Habita association, we examine strategies to contest housing financialisation, which has unfolded through different spatiotemporal dynamics fostered by the State, as well as outcomes of this social mobilisation in Portugal. We emphasise the importance of mixing ‘invited’ strategies with ‘ínvented’ strategies, highlighting, simultaneously, the significance of the economic and political context as the stage where the struggles and their opportunities develop. Success is always situated within a context. In this sense, the focus on the reputational pressure of some actors of the state is identified as a way of obtaining results under certain conditions. Our analysis shows that despite facing an enormous imbalance of power concerning actors promoting housing financialisation, housing movements can be important mobilisers and question the dominant paths, interfering with state policies and financialisation processes and showcasing the need for and possibility of building alternatives to the financialisation and commodification of housing.

Keywords:

• Financialisation of housing
• social movements
• the state
• housing precarity
• evictions
• Portugal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 https://www.sef.pt/pt/pages/conteudo-detalhe.aspx?nID=62.

2 Decreto-Lei n.º 249/2009: https://dre.pt/web/guest/pesquisa/-/search/490420/details/normal?l=1

3 New Urban Rental Regime (NRAU, Novo Regime do Arrendamento Urbano) of 2012, https://dre.pt/pesquisa/-/search/175305/details/maximized

4 Several of these changes, inscribed in the memorandum of understanding for Portugal’s financial rescue, were made under the remit of the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission, and subscribed to by the right-wing coalition government and the Socialist Party.

5 http://www.solimigrante.org

6 See more at https://habita.info/

7 Degree-law nº.163/93.

8 https://arquitectos.pt/?no=202015443:022007

9 https://observador.pt/2016/12/21/parlamento-quer-ouvir-camara-da-amadora-sobre-moradores-desalojados-do-bairro-6-de-maio/

10 https://caravanapelahabitacao.wordpress.com/

11 https://www.dn.pt/lusa/camara-de-loures-vai-realojar-23-familias-do-bairro-da-torre-9084223.html

12 Interestingly it was also noted that all the identified 187 municipalities had more vacant dwellings than families in need of re-housing and that in 2011, of the total Portuguese housing stock, 735,128 dwellings were vacant, i.e. a number much higher than the identified number of 25,762 families to be re-housed (IHRU 2018, p. 41).

13 moraremlisboa.org

14 stopdespejos.wordpress.com

15 Date of Habita’s intervention

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Helsinki as well as Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the project Care(4)Housing: a care through design approach to address housing precarity in Portugal [PTDC/ART-DAQ/0181/2021] and under a doctoral Grant [SFRH/BD/136311/2018]. No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.ABSTRACTSocial movements can seek to challenge the variety of housing financialisation processes in different ways. Focussing on the case of the Habita association, we examine strategies to contest housing financialisation, which has unfolded through different spatio-temporal dynamics fostered by the State, as well as outcomes of this social mobilisation in Portugal. We emphasise the importance of mixing ‘invited’ strategies with ‘ínvented’ strategies, highlighting, simultaneously, the significance of the economic and political context as the stage where the struggles and their opportunities develop. Success is always situated within a context. In this sense, the focus on the reputational pressure of some actors of the state is identified as a way of obtaining results under certain conditions. Our analysis shows that despite facing an enormous imbalance of power concerning actors promoting housing financialisation, housing movements can be important mobilisers and question the dominant paths, interfering with state policies and financialisation processes and showcasing the need for and possibility of building alternatives to the financialisation and commodification of housing. KEYWORDSFinancialisation of housing; social movements; the state; housing precarity; evictions; Portugal