Government pays half of €240 million in rent subsidies
Of the €240 million the Portuguese government has earmarked for rent subsidies for low income families and individuals, around 49% of the total or €118 million had already been allocated to 181 families by July.
The average subsidy is €100 per month back paid to January according to the ministries of Housing and Finances and Work and Social Security.
The budget execution for Social Security for the first half of the year points to an expenditure from the measure at €80.8 million, or a third of the total budgeted amount of €239.7 million.
In just one month, from June to July, the amount increased by €37.34 million to €118.14 million on the back of the IBAN update on the site Social Security Direct (Segurança Social Direta) given that the payment is made exclusively by bank transfer, but also because those who have the right to rent support of less than €20 only got it in July.
As to the aggregate number of those eligible, this fell from around 186,000 to 181,525, or 4475 families sought support because they no longer were the signatories on the contacts in question.