Regional Government of the Azores studies new housing support with Santa Cruz das Flores as a testing ground

The island capital, a showcase for housing policy

Santa Cruz das Flores, seat of the municipality of the same name and one of the island's two towns alongside Lajes das Flores, is home to much of Flores' administrative services. According to sources in the regional administration, it is also one of the places where the Governo Regional dos Açores wants to prioritise testing new housing-support tools designed for sparsely populated islands.

Renovation before new building

The programmes under consideration focus, according to these sources, on incentives to renovate existing housing rather than promoting new development, given the limited developable land available in Flores because of environmental restrictions covering much of the island's territory. The idea, Governo Regional sources explain, is to make use of the stock of shuttered or under-used houses before considering urban growth.

Working with the municipality

The Câmara Municipal de Santa Cruz das Flores is taking part in designing these measures by contributing its knowledge of the local situation, according to municipal sources, including a mapping of empty or poorly maintained homes within the town and its parishes. That assessment, the same sources note, will be key to targeting support at the cases where it will have the greatest real impact on rental and sales supply.

Caution among industry players

Local estate agents have greeted the announcement with caution, recalling that other islands in the archipelago have previously seen similar measures with mixed results, according to sources in the sector. Their main request is that any programme explicitly include Flores and Corvo, the westernmost and least populated islands, which are often left out of initiatives designed for the larger islands.

Timetable still to be set

Sources in the regional administration are avoiding committing to a specific date for launching the new measures, though they indicate that Santa Cruz das Flores is among the municipalities consulted during the design phase. The island's property sector hopes that, if approved, the programme will arrive before the end of the current year.