A survey conducted by the Faro district prefecture points to 100 constructions and urban interventions carried out without municipal licensing or authorisation, including prefabricated mobile homes, wooden houses, modular homes, and shipping containers.

In statements to Lusa, Filomena Sintra said that 95% of these occupations belong to people who “chose, on their own initiative, and not for lack of alternatives,” for the municipality of Castro Marim to install these houses.

The mayor clarified that “70% of these occupations are not eligible for licensing” and that, in these cases, municipal services notify the owners to carry out the demolition and restore the conditions prior to the occupation.

Use of municipal resources

The work will be carried out using the municipality's resources, which will cover the costs of the demolitions, with subsequent reimbursement if the owners do not pay, she added, emphasising that the process involves the municipality's legal, social and urban planning areas.

According to Filomena Sintra, this is a "demanding process in administrative and legal terms," and it is necessary to distinguish between "own and permanent housing" and occupations made by "people who choose the territory to remain isolated from urban areas" and to be close to nature.

Collective management problems

The official warned that this "individual choice brings serious problems of collective management," pointing to areas such as Civil Protection and firefighting, access to public health, and social management.

“We don’t know who the households are, and then, in an emergency situation, they are not part of any intervention plan,” she argued, stressing that many are in “dispersed, hidden areas without qualified access,” and helping them would mean leaving behind some of the 100 legal housing units scattered throughout the municipality.

The mayor emphasised that most households in this situation are not composed of “people who had no other housing solution,” but of owners who chose the municipality as a way of life.

Filomena Sintra also said that there are cases of people requesting water or electricity for wells and then placing a mobile modular dwelling on the land, or of owners removing the modules when the municipality inspects them and then putting them back later.

Outside the law

“Neither in Castro Marim, nor nationally, is there a legal framework for this type of occupation, outside of urban planning rules […]. Therefore, it is a problem of land management, it is a problem of prevention and disaster, on the part of Civil Protection, and then it is a social problem that translates into a great injustice for families who make a huge effort to pay the costs of housing […], who are subject to the rules,” she considered.

Many use the difficulty that currently exists in accessing housing, both in the country and in the Algarve, to “invoke rights” to occupy the territory, but the City Council cannot allow dispersed illegal housing and is notifying owners to legalise the situation, in cases susceptible to legalisation, or to proceed with its demolition.

Access to housing

Filomena Sintra said she knows that access to housing is one of the problems that most concerns the population and guaranteed that she is committed to finding viable solutions to address this problem, but insisted that the answer cannot be an occupation without rules.

“It gave the impression of a certain impunity [...], but one day it could translate into a serious problem. And those who sell the land and those who act as intermediaries in the land sales and sell the houses also have a very simplistic way of doing this,” lamented the mayor.