Alentejo 2030 Makes 46.1 Million Euros of EU Money Available for Affordable Rentals, Student Rooms and Staff Housing, With the First Round Closing on 30 November

The Alentejo's regional EU funds programme, Alentejo 2030, has opened six calls worth 46.1 million euros for housing: social housing, affordable rentals, rooms for higher-education students and casas de função (staff housing) for public workers posted to places where they are hard to recruit. Applications opened at 09:00 on Friday, 6 November, and the first round closes on 30 November.

Together with two social-housing calls worth 15.4 million euros launched earlier, the programme says it now has about 61.5 million euros on the table for housing across the region, according to its release of 6 November (Portuguese only).

Households cannot apply. The money goes to the IHRU (Instituto da Habitação e da Reabilitação Urbana, the state housing institute), to councils and their intermunicipal communities, to public universities and polytechnics, and to state bodies that house their own staff. What residents may see, if the projects go ahead, is more council and affordable rented homes, student beds and staff flats in the next few years.

The six calls

The formal calls, published on the national Portugal 2030 calls portal on 3 and 5 November, set out who may apply and how much of the cost EU money can cover (all in Portuguese):

• Affordable rentals in the four inland subregions, 13.8 million euros (call ALT2030-2026-64): for councils, intermunicipal communities and municipal companies, with charities able to join a council's bid. It is split between Alto Alentejo (4.50 million), Alentejo Central (3.09 million), Baixo Alentejo (3.24 million) and the Lezíria do Tejo (2.97 million). EU money covers up to 25 percent of the eligible cost.
• Affordable rentals on the Alentejo coast, 9.3 million euros (call ALT2030-2026-62): for the councils of the Alentejo Litoral, from the Just Transition Fund. Up to 25 percent.
• Student residences, 10 million euros (call ALT2030-2026-67): for public higher-education institutions, councils and other public bodies with a role in higher education. Up to 85 percent.
• Social housing, 5.35 million euros (call ALT2030-2026-65): the IHRU applies, alone or in partnership with councils and other public bodies. Up to 95 percent.
• Affordable rentals, regional line, 5.35 million euros (call ALT2030-2026-63): again the IHRU, with partners. Up to 25 percent.
• Staff housing, 2.3 million euros (call ALT2030-2026-66): for councils and central government bodies that own buildings used for public functions. Up to 85 percent.

Where the cap is 25 percent, as on every affordable-rent line, the IHRU or the council has to find the other three quarters of the eligible cost itself.

Who the homes are for

• Coast: the coastal call says prices in Sines, Grândola, Odemira and Santiago do Cacém have become out of reach for residents on low local incomes, under pressure from tourism, industry, labour migration, holiday homes and alojamento local (short-term lets). The new homes are for people who meet the conditions of Lei n.º 81/2014 (the supported-rent law) or the regional or municipal rules that apply.
• Students: rooms are for grant-holding students studying away from home and for other students from elsewhere, Portuguese or foreign, including Erasmus+ students. Residences funded this way may charge no more than the maximum monthly amounts per bed set by Lei n.º 71/2017. The eligible cost is capped at 37,553 euros a bed for most projects, before VAT and at April 2024 prices.
• Staff housing: flats for police and other security forces, state employees whom the law entitles to housing, and other professionals at public or associative bodies. The programme's release names health, education and security. Each bid must show that the service has trouble recruiting or keeping staff in that area.

The rules that apply to every bid

• Size: each project must cost more than 200,000 euros in total.
• Ready to build: on every line except staff housing, bids must arrive with an approved execution project and the licences in hand, ready to go to public tender.
• Twenty years: homes and beds funded must stay in the use they were funded for for 20 years.
• No private housing: the affordable-rent calls rule out funding private housing. Affordable homes must also fit the council's Estratégia Local de Habitação (local housing strategy).
• Rounds: bids are judged in 14 monthly rounds, the first closing at 18:00 on 30 November 2026 and the last on 30 December 2027.

The money adds to other routes the government is opening to councils this autumn, including the 477 empty state buildings they can claim by 31 December. It also comes as one Alentejo council, Portalegre, says IHRU requirements are pushing up the cost of renovating its council homes, and the Alentejo remains the only Portuguese region whose economy is smaller than in 2019.

The programme takes questions on the free Linha dos Fundos, 800 10 35 10 (09:00 to 18:00), and at [email protected]. If you are looking for a home rather than funding, the place to ask is your council's housing department, which runs its own lists for council and affordable rentals.