Housing: The Most Neglected of Territorial Policies

This communication reflects on the relationship and impact of housing policies on territorial policies, particularly municipal territorial policies. Initially, it reviews legislation that regulates territorial management instruments (TMI) to understand how sectoral housing policy flows into TMIs and how it integrates with municipal territorial strategy. This reflection is cross-referenced with identifying various levels of responsibility and competence for defining and implementing public housing policies. Until now, housing policy has been considered a central government prerogative, leaving municipalities with executive and operational tasks without territorial dimension. The current legislative framework is then examined to understand the current situation and opportunities represented by work done under the "1º Direito" program for territorial and urban planning. To this end, two third-generation Municipal Master Plan were ana-lysed in terms of the housing component, and it was concluded that in both, the integration of housing into territorial policies is incipient in one and somewhat significant in the other. The preparation of Municipal Housing Charters, as defined in the Basic Law on Housing, are the appropriate instrument for integrating housing as a strategic axis of territorial pol-icy. Monitoring these Charters' implementation, their incorporation into PDMs, and evaluating existing housing measures implementation will be important. The century-long housing problem indicates a lack of critical evaluation of public policies. In this sense, the LBH's implementation, particularly in its monitoring component materialised in the Annual Housing Report, will be fundamental.