La « location abordable » comme objet politique au Portugal. Regards sur la gouvernance urbaine et la politique du logement

In a time where the leasing market expands its prominence in political discourse and formulation, the article proposes guidelines for the formulation of a model of urban and housing intervention that favors « affordable leasing », highlighting the contradictions and obstacles to a just and equitable housing policy. It is a critical analysis of the evolution in the political foundations that have been guiding the urban and housing intervention since the 1990s. Considering the « political rationalities » in the exercise of power and its effects on the rental market, three regimes of governance are identified : the support for the purchase ; the encouragement of urban regeneration, and, more recently, the intensification of austerity measures contained in the Programs for economic and financial adjustment agreed between the IMF, the ECB, the « strong governments » of the EU (the Troika) and the Portuguese government. The « affordable leasing », so far a non-existent or poorly defined political object, as it is devoid of political and operational frameworks, evolves to an object, still vague in its definition, but solid as a means of answering to the non-compliance and foreclosure problems that threaten banks. This new approach is largely subjugated to the logics of intervention marked by the foundations of a neoliberal policy, increasingly present in the government since 2011.