Types of accommodation

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Portuguese Refugee Council Visit Website

 Accommodation of spontaneous asylum seekers

As mentioned in Freedom of Movement, asylum seekers are generally referred by frontline service providers to the SOG following admission to the regular procedure, or in case of appeals against negative decisions. At this point, the provision of housing is relayed by either local Social Security services for the duration of the regular procedure or by SCML in the Lisbon area at appeal stage.

According to information provided by ISS, asylum seekers are mostly accommodated in private housing (rented flats/houses and rooms) without prejudice to accommodation provided by relatives in Portugal and placement in collective accommodation facilities such as hotels or non-dedicated reception centres, e.g., emergency shelters, nursing homes, etc. While ISS manages reception facilities where applicants for and beneficiaries of international protection may be accommodated in certain circumstances,[1] none of them has places specifically assigned to such persons.

Applicants supported by SCML are accommodated either in private housing, or in hostels.[2] A very limited number of asylum seekers are sometimes referred to homeless shelters managed by the organisation on a temporary basis to address specific vulnerabilities.

In the current reception system, adults and families with children who receive reception conditions provided by CPR are accommodated at CPR’s Refugee Reception Centre (CAR) or in private accommodation provided by CPR (apartments and rooms in the private market or hostels) during admissibility (including Dublin) and accelerated procedures on the territory. CPR’s Refugee Children Reception Centre (CACR) offers unaccompanied children appropriate housing and reception conditions during the regular procedure and at appeal stage.

Source: CPR.

CAR is an open reception centre located in Bobadela, Municipality of Loures, and operates in the framework of MoUs with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security. The official capacity of the CAR stands at 60 places but, in practice, the centre can accommodate up to 80 persons. Nevertheless, due to the persisting needs, by the end of the year, a total of 96 persons were accommodated in the facility.

In 2023, CPR provided reception assistance to a total of 1,937 asylum seekers,[3] of which 27% were accommodated at CAR/CAR 2, 64% in alternative private accommodation (including rooms in private apartments and hostels), 8% with friends/family, and the remaining 1% in other places of accommodation.[4]

CPR ensures accommodation until ISS or SCML take over. As such, asylum seekers only leave its facilities when alternative accommodation is secured (see Responsibility for Reception).

Factors such as the number of referrals for accommodation, occasional delays in the transition into accommodation provided by other stakeholders, as well as the need to preserve family units, continued to determine the need to resort to external accommodation solutions such as hostels at this stage, as well as to instances of overcrowding. The average accommodation period with the assistance of CPR in 2023 was of 109 days (roughly 3 and a half months).

Since the last quarter of 2023 CPR has been unable to ensure the provision of accommodation to all spontaneous asylum seekers as per previous practice both due to the lack of further capacity of infra-structures, and to the lack of funding to that effect.[5]

AIMA has been directly providing accommodation to asylum seekers under the competencies assigned by the Asylum Act to the Ministry in charge of Migration.[6]

According to the information available to CPR, AIMA provides accommodation in hostels/hotels. CPR has received consistent reports of significant issues impacting asylum applicants within this context namely concerning: lack of information, lack of access to material reception conditions, instances of withdrawal of accommodation immediately following notification of a negative decision (in violation of the applicable legal framework), frequent and often unannounced changes of place of accommodation, and lack of response to specific needs (including access to health care). This is not the case according to AIMA.[7]

CACR is an open reception house for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children located in Lisbon that has operated since 2012 in the framework of MoUs with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Municipality of Lisbon and the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security. It has an official capacity of 13 places.

In order to ensure response to the reception needs, young applicants at more advanced stages of the integration process may be transferred from CACR to CAR or CAR 2 in a process of growing autonomy. Furthermore, changing arrangements in rooms allowed to expand the capacity of the facility while preserving adequate accommodation standards. In some instances, unaccompanied children have to be provisionally accommodated at CAR due to shortage of places at CACR or other imperative motives. Despite all efforts, there were instances in 2023 where CPR informed the authorities of the lack of capacity to provide adequate reception conditions to unaccompanied children. In such cases, unaccompanied children were referred to other reception facilities within the child-care system. In 2023, CACR accommodated a total of 62 unaccompanied children.

In 2023, CPR continued to operate CAR 2, a reception centre located in S. João da Talha, Municipality of Loures, specifically devoted to the reception of resettled refugees. CAR 2 has a maximum capacity of 90 places. In 2023, CAR 2 accommodated a total of 149 persons, the majority of whom resettled refugees and Afghan asylum seekers evacuated to Portugal. The facility was also part of CPR’s response to spontaneous asylum seekers in case of emergent needs.

Access to adequate housing is identified as a major issue within the national context by asylum seekers, refugees and NGOs.[8] Factors such as high prices, and contractual demands including high deposits, need of guarantors and proof of income hinder the capacity of asylum seekers and refugees to access the market directly, and that of frontline service providers to increase reception capacity. Consequently, asylum seekers and refugees often have to resort to overcrowded or sub-standard housing options when accessing the private housing market.[9]

The 2023 edition of the Statistical Report of OM also highlighted that reception entities are under pressure to respond to the accommodation of all spontaneous asylum seekers due to factors such as the increase number of applications, lack of human and financial resources, and lack of places for reception.[10]

Housing of relocated unaccompanied children from Greece

Reception of unaccompanied children relocated from Greece is subject to a different practical framework. According to the available information, it includes an initial period of 3 to 6 months during which the psychological, educational, and social support are ensured. Support is then guaranteed through the general network of the ISS, ‘independent living’,[11] or foster families.[12]

According to the information provided by the Secretary of State for Integration and Migration (SEIM) to the Parliament in December 2020, foster families[13] are a solution meant to younger children and have been applied in practice.[14] The SEIM also noted that reception entities involved in the programme receive training, and that a manual is being prepared. Furthermore, weekly visits are performed by ISS (and, in Lisbon, the SCML).[15]

According to ISS, 3 specialised reception centres with a total of 37 places were involved in this programme in 2023. Additionally, there were also places available in supervised autonomy facilities for the reception of unaccompanied children. According to the information provided by ISS, a total of 197 places were available for reception within this context by the end of the year. According to the information provided by ISS, by the ed of 2023, a total of 71 unaccompanied children were included in the programme.

Emergency reception

Decree-Law 26/2021 of 31 March 2021[16] created a National Pool of Urgent and Temporary Accommodation and a National Plan of Urgent and Temporary Accommodation. Recognising the lack of solutions in this regard, the National Plan aims to create structured responses to people in need of emergency or transitional accommodation.[17]

According to the Decree-Law, the National Plan covers persons under the mandate of the entities that form the restricted line-up of the SOG (SEF, ACM and ISS).[18] Referrals of applicants for/beneficiaries of international protection to accommodation within this context should be made by ISS and ACM.[19] Such referrals must be communicated to the SOG.[20] Additionally, entities responsible for the reception of applicants and beneficiaries of international protection may access support to promote urgent and temporary accommodation solutions for the National Pool.[21]

Neither CPR, nor SCML had information regarding access by asylum seekers to this programme. ISS noted that the period of applications for building/rehabilitating housing under this programme would be open until 31 May 2024.

[1] 16 persons in 2022.

[2] In 2023, a total of 107 places were available in hostels for this purpose.

[3] Including applicants for international protection whose applications were made before 2023.

[4] Accommodation by the end of the provision of support or by 31/12/2022. In total, and according to the reception model currently implemented by CPR, a total of 68% of the supported asylum seekers was accommodated in CAR during a period of time.

[5] On the one hand, there were significant delays in the provision of AMIF funding at national level, on the other since the beginning of its operations AIMA publicly stated that it wanted to evaluate the provision of services by the organisation before renewing any cooperation frameworks. While AIMA and CPR signed a contract for the provision of accommodation for a limited number of asylum seekers in January 2024, this did not ensure the payment of services previously ensured by the organisation and did not provide sufficient resources for CPR to continue ensuring the usual reception model. In fact, by the end of the year the organisation often faced financial constraints leading to delays in the payment of financial allowances to asylum seekers and salaries to employees. See, for instance: Público, Conselho Português para os Refugiados confirma salários e verbas em atraso, 8 January 2024, availble at: https://tinyurl.com/t73nw4ue. Within the context of the right of reply of the authorities to the draft AIDA report, AIMA affirmed that it has expanded reception capacity and that the procedures adopted aimed to ensure transparency. It also confirmed that the transition between financial frameworks created constraints, but asserted that such constraints had been overcome by June 2024. Information provided by AIMA, 25 June 2024.

[6] Article 61(1) Asylum Act.

[7] Within the context of the right of reply of the authorities to the draft AIDA report, AIMA noted that all asylum seekers are informed of the available accommodation and its conditions, and that all asylum seekers were offered accommodation. It has also noted that asylum seekers are duly informed of changes to their accommodation arrangements, and that applicants are referred to healthcare authorities. AIMA did not provide further information regarding the procedures and criteria for withdrawal of accommodation. Information provided by AIMA, 25 June 2024.

[8] In addition to CPR, SCML also expressed this concern when providing information for the AIDA report.

[9] It should be noted that while these issues are not only specific to applicants and beneficiaries of international protection, factors such as the absence of support networks increase their impact in asylum seeking and refugee families.

[10] Observatório das Migrações (OM), Requerentes e Beneficiários de Proteção Internacional – Relatório Estatístico do Asilo 2023, p.153, July 2023. While the reports produced by the OM were previously available online, at the time of writing it was not possible to access them online, neither in the website of ACM, which was still online, nor in the website of AIMA.

[11] Unofficial translation (“autonomia de vida”).

[12] See, for instance: State Party report on Follow-up to Concluding Observations [Human Rights Committee], CCPR/PRT/FCO/5, 27 July 2021, pp.11-13 available at: https://bit.ly/3E42KoA.

[13] The legal framework for foster families is established by Decree-Law 164/2019 of 25 October 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/3ejB02M.

[14] Reception through foster families has not been used in the case of asylum seeking/refugee children in other occasions/contexts.

[15] Video recording of the parliamentary hearing of the Ministry of the Presidency and the Secretary of State for Integration and Migration (21 December 2020) available at: https://bit.ly/3ouCeeM.  

[16] Available at: https://bit.ly/3Oc68Ct. The functioning of the National Pool of Urgent and Temporary Accommodation is governed by Ministerial Order 120/2021, 8 June, available at: https://bit.ly/3uEmOLm.

[17] Article 11 Ministerial Order 120/2021, 8 June defines the maximum periods of emergency/transition accommodation – 15 days or 6 months, respectively, that may be renewed for an equal period. A specific regime applies to victims of domestic violence.

[18] Article 5(1)(b)(iii) Decree-Law 26/2021 of 31 March.

[19] Article 12(1) and (2) Ministerial Order 120/2021, 8 June.

[20] Article 12(3) Ministerial Order 120/2021, 8 June.

[21] Article 12 Decree-Law 26/2021 of 31 March; article 26(c) Decree-Law 37/2018 of 4 June; article 7(c) Ministerial Order 120/2021, 8 June.