Portugal announced on Thursday a package of measures to combat a housing crisis, including an end to its controversial "Golden Visa" program and a ban on new licenses for the company Airbnbs and other short-term vacation rental contracts.

Rents and house prices have risen too much in Portugal, which is among the poorest countries in Western Europe. Last year, more than 50% of workers earned less than a thousand euros a month, while in Lisbon alone, rents rose by 37% in 2022.

Low wages, a booming real estate market, policies that encourage wealthy foreigners to invest and an economy dependent on tourism have for years made it difficult for locals to rent or buy, housing groups said. Portugal's inflation rate of 8.3% has exacerbated the problem.

Prime Minister António Costa said that the crisis was now affecting all families, not just the most vulnerable.

It's not clear when the measures, worth at least 900 million euros, will come into force. Costa said that some will be approved next month and others will be voted on by lawmakers.

A mechanism would be introduced to regulate rent increases, he added, and the government will propose tax incentives for landlords who convert tourist properties into homes for locals to rent out.

Left-wing MP Mariana Mortagua criticized the measures, saying that the government was granting tax incentives to landlords who have already "benefited from (housing) speculation".

New licenses for tourist accommodation, such as Airbnbs, will be banned - except in less populated rural areas.

The Social Democrats said the measures were an "attack" on the rights of homeowners and businesses.

To tackle the housing shortage, Costa said that the state will rent vacant houses directly from owners for a period of five years and put them on the rental market.

Portugal is to end its Golden Visa program, which offers EU passports to third-country nationals in exchange for investments, including in the real estate sector, and has been criticized for rising house prices and rents.

The program has attracted 6.8 billion euros of investment since its launch in 2012, with most of the money being invested in real estate.

Housing groups said the measures would mean little if the government continued to promote other policies to attract wealthy foreigners to Portugal, such as the "Digital Nomads Visa" introduced in October, which gives foreigners with high monthly incomes remote work to live and work from Portugal without paying local taxes.

During a small housing protest in Lisbon, 23-year-old activist Andreia Galvao accused the government of failing to keep the promises it made to tackle the housing crisis in the past.

"The objective was that by 2024 all Portuguese people would have access to quality housing - it doesn't look like that's going to happen," she said. "The situation is dramatic."

The group "Housing is a right" said that the measures do not change the "system in place", in which large real estate investment funds control a significant part of the market.

"For the vast majority of people, rents will continue to be onerous and buying a house will remain a dream," she said. (Reuters)