Salão, caught between fishing and nautical tourism, cannot find housing for its own workers

Flats are scarce, unfilled vacancies are not

Catering and nautical activity businesses face recurring difficulties filling seasonal posts.

Workers who turn down the job

Some workers end up commuting daily from Horta or turning down the job altogether.

A structural demand, not just a seasonal one

The rental shortage also affects permanent residents who work in the parish.

Requests from the parish councils

Calls are being made for capped-rent housing schemes for workers in the maritime and tourism sectors.

A parish with its own fishing tradition

Salão retains an identity firmly rooted in traditional fishing, with a local fleet that has, for some years now, coexisted with growing nautical tourism linked to Horta marina and to whale-watching routes. This dual calling, fishing and tourism, generates seasonal demand for labour that the parish cannot always house with its own housing stock. Local businesses say the rental shortage has been a known problem for some time, but that it has worsened with the recent growth of nautical tourism.

Horta, a close reference point but also a rival

The proximity of Horta, the capital of Faial and the island's main urban centre, offers an alternative housing option for those working in Salão, but it also turns the capital into a rival for the same kind of affordable rental housing. Many workers choose to live in Horta and commute daily, adding time and cost to their working day. Businesses in Salão acknowledge that this solution is not sustainable in the long run for filling posts on a stable basis.

First attempts at a solution from within the sector itself

Faced with a lack of immediate institutional response, some catering and nautical activity businesses in Salão have begun exploring their own solutions, such as setting up basic accommodation for seasonal staff in properties near their premises. Parish councils consulted view these private initiatives favourably, though they stress that they do not replace the need for a broader capped-rent housing policy for workers in the parish's maritime and tourism sector.