Are short-term rentals the cause of Porto's housing crisis?

Millions of people visit Porto each year and with its river, iconic bridge, and culinary reputation, it's easy to see why. Visitors are a significant part of the local economy but there’s a fine line between sustainable tourism and overtourism, where local people are priced out.

Tens of thousands of people protested in Portugal in April 2023, furious at the housing crisis, triggered by foreign investment in property, low wages, a lack of affordable new homes and exacerbated by holiday rentals chipping away at the residential housing stock.

Helena Souto from the housing association Habitação Hoje! says the situation is the cause of huge problems.

"We are hearing every day of cases of people living in over occupation, like 12 people living in a small apartment, 15 people," she says. "We are talking about huge problems of cold, of humidity, of fungus."

She says empty public housing is a major problem, as is the gentrification of neighbourhoods as short-term rentals start to outnumber homes.

"The city is being made for the people who can pay higher prices, so it can be tourists, digital nomads or people who come to make business," she says.

Portugal has seen a rise in digital nomads and offers a digital nomad visa. Housing activists says they will make the crisis worse.

Not so, say companies who rent accommodation, for short-term rentals and for longer stays, and provide coworking spaces.

"They become part of the local community," argues Rui Santos, Head of Communication at FeelPorto. "They go to the same shops, they go to restaurants, supermarkets. So they contribute to the local economy."

And he denies they're eating into the local housing stock.

"It's the opposite of that," he says. "Because this type of solution we have is a