The Lisbon City Council is offering permanent housing units to six homeless individuals currently living in an abandoned school slated for demolition—a rare instance where cultural event planning has collided with social housing policy, rather than displacing vulnerable residents outright.
Why This Matters:
• Individual housing units with support services are being offered within a 5-minute walk of the current location, as part of Lisbon's Housing First programme.
• The Festival Iminente, celebrating its 10th anniversary, has publicly committed to not expelling anyone from the venue—a stark departure from the "social cleansing" tactics documented in other European capitals hosting major events.
• The building, the former Escola Industrial Afonso Domingues in Marvila, faces demolition before 2027 due to the Terceira Travessia do Tejo infrastructure project.
• No deadline has been imposed for residents to leave, contrary to initial reports suggesting a July 31 ultimatum.
The Venue Dilemma: Culture Meets Infrastructure
The Festival Iminente—founded by renowned street artist Alexandre Farto (Vhils)—will occupy the derelict Escola Afonso Domingues from September 17-20, 2025. The building, shuttered since 2010 and abandoned for roughly 16 years, sits directly in the path of planned access routes for the Terceira Travessia do Tejo, a road-rail bridge linking Chelas to the Lavradio district across the Tagus. Demolition is expected before 2027, with environmental impact studies due later this year.
The school has no electricity or running water, yet six people have been sheltering there. When local media reported in mid-July that these residents faced a two-week eviction notice, the festival and municipal authorities both issued swift clarifications. Juliana Almeida, the festival's director, stated unequivocally that the event's production plan deliberately avoids the occupied zones within the sprawling complex. "We would not celebrate 10 years of Iminente at the expense of anyone's housing," the organisation wrote on social media.
What the Lisbon City Council Is Actually Offering
The Câmara Municipal de Lisboa (CML), led by Mayor Carlos Moedas and the PSD/CDS-PP/IL coalition, clarified that there is no fixed deadline for departure. Instead, the municipality's homelessness services have been conducting individualised case management in partnership with social intervention networks across the city.
On the same day the initial eviction story broke, CML convened a fresh meeting with the residents and presented a concrete proposal: individual housing units in a community-supported living facility within walking distance of the school. This represents the first step toward integration into Lisbon's Housing First programme, a model operational in the capital since 2009 that prioritises immediate access to stable, individual accommodation coupled with ongoing psychosocial support.
The CML currently manages 8 Housing First projects totalling 340 homes for people experiencing homelessness, with a recent council resolution approving funding to expand the programme to 100 additional units prioritising individuals with mental health conditions or substance dependencies. The council collaborates with specialist NGOs including Crescer and the Associação para o Estudo e Integração Psicossocial (AEIPS) to deliver wraparound services.
According to the festival organisation, some residents have already toured the proposed housing; the remainder were scheduled to visit on the following Monday. "These are not dormitories—they are individual, dignified units, a stepping stone to permanent homes with conditions the school building never had," the festival noted.
Impact on Residents and Policy Precedent
The Afonso Domingues case highlights a tension increasingly visible in Portuguese cities: the collision of urban regeneration, cultural programming, and social housing scarcity. While the CML's response appears more supportive than punitive—offering real alternatives rather than simple displacement—the timeline remains compressed by the impending demolition schedule tied to national infrastructure priorities.
Lisbon presented Europe's first Plano Europeu de Habitação Acessível in January 2025, committing to thousands of new affordable units in developments at Vale de Santo António and Vale de Chelas. The municipality's Programa de Renda Acessível (PRA) has opened multiple application rounds this year targeting seniors and young adults, aiming to rebalance neighbourhoods affected by gentrification and short-term rental saturation.
Yet the broader housing crisis means available social stock remains insufficient. Portugal's Basic Housing Law (2019) recognises shelter as a constitutional right and mandates anti-eviction safeguards, but enforcement remains uneven. Forced evictions tied to demolition orders and real estate speculation continue to displace long-term tenants, particularly in Lisbon and Porto.
How This Compares to Event-Driven Displacement Elsewhere in Europe
The Iminente situation stands in notable contrast to practices documented in other European capitals ahead of major international events. Human rights organisations including FEANTSA (the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless) have criticised what they term "social cleansing" campaigns in cities hosting the Olympics, UEFA championships, and similar spectacles.
Paris came under sustained scrutiny before the 2024 Summer Olympics for systematically relocating migrants and homeless individuals to distant regions with inadequate follow-up support. Berlin and Barcelona faced similar accusations during recent sporting and cultural mega-events. The aim in these cases appeared to be aesthetic—removing visible poverty from tourist zones—rather than genuinely rehousing vulnerable populations.
Portugal's approach, while far from perfect, does not appear to follow that playbook. The CML's insistence on individualised solutions, the festival's public refusal to displace residents, and the integration of the Afonso Domingues case into existing Housing First pathways suggest a more social-policy-oriented response rather than a superficial sweep.
What Happens Next
The six residents retain the autonomy to accept or decline the housing offer. If they choose to stay, both the CML and the festival have stated they will not be forcibly removed before the event. The festival's site plan has been adjusted to accommodate their continued presence, confining event infrastructure to other sections of the multi-building campus.
Whether this arrangement holds through to the demolition phase—and what happens if residents refuse permanent rehousing—remains unclear. The Terceira Travessia do Tejo project is a national priority backed by EU Recovery and Resilience funding, meaning the building's fate is not negotiable in the long term.
For now, the case serves as a modest but notable example of how cultural institutions and municipal governments can navigate the intersection of event planning and social responsibility without resorting to the displacement tactics that have marred similar situations elsewhere in Europe. Whether Lisbon's model becomes a template or an isolated exception will depend on how seriously the city maintains its Housing First commitments as redevelopment pressures intensify across Marvila and other eastern riverside neighbourhoods.
Residents interested in accessing Lisbon's Housing First or affordable rental programmes can contact the CML's Department of Social Rights or partner organisations such as Crescer and AEIPS for eligibility assessments and application support.
