Santa Clara neighbourhood with 22 new housing units - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Juventude, Habitação e Emprego

The Regional Secretary for Youth, Housing and Employment, Maria João Carreiro, awarded today to the company Caetano & Medeiros the works contract for the construction of 22 single-family houses in the Santa Clara neighbourhood in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, in an investment of about 4 million Euros (3,947,334.33 €) financed under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). 

At the signing of the consignment agreement, followed by the laying of the foundation stone, the government official noted that this work "goes far beyond the construction of buildings." It represents "an investment with a social component, guaranteeing Azorean families access to decent, safe and affordable housing."

"Here, in Santa Clara, we are building people's future. A future with dignity, stability and security," she stressed. 

With a completion period of 420 days, this works contract includes the construction of 18 three-bedroom houses, with a construction area of 97.3 m², and four four-bedroom houses, with a construction area of 112.7 m². These houses will be two-storey single-family houses.

According to Maria João Carreiro, the new houses will be made available, through public tender procedures, under a lease with a purchase option scheme. The respective regulations were recently approved by the Government Council under which 93 housing units are expected to be made available by the end of this year, representing an investment of 13.5 million Euros.  

"Housing is a transformative public policy. It is with practical action and a vision of the future that the Regional Government is ensuring that no one is left behind," she said. The government official explained that the investment in the lease with a purchase option scheme falls within a "broader regional strategy to respond to housing needs, based on the housing renovation and construction, the transfer of plots under the self-build scheme or even the increase in rental support, for example." 

In 2023, the Regional Government invested about 465 thousand Euros in the implementation of the urban infrastructures for the Santa Clara neighbourhood, creating the necessary conditions for the beginning of the work that has now been awarded. 

The signing ceremony and the laying of the foundation stone were attended by, among other guests, the President of the Ponta Delgada Municipal Assembly, Claúdio Almeida, the Deputy Mayor of Ponta Delgada, Pedro Furtado, the Regional Director for Housing, Daniel Pavão, and the representative of the company Caetano & Medeiros - Sociedade de Construção e Imobiliária, Lda., Luís Medeiros.