Gebalis rejects the widow's account

On Friday, 23 October, several dozen people gathered in Marvila, Lisbon, for a solidarity vigil against the eviction of a young widowed mother and her two children, aged 4 and 2, from a municipal flat in the Bairro do Condado. The eviction took place on 30 July. The same day, Gebalis, the company that manages Lisbon's municipal housing estates, held a press conference. Its board president, Fernando Angleu, said the company had acted within the law and that the woman had never held the lease or lived in the flat. According to Angleu, the person illegally kept from the home was an 84-year-old man, a partner of the leaseholder, who reported the matter to the authorities. Diário de Notícias gives his age as 85.

The widow's account

The widow told SIC Notícias that she had lived in the flat with her partner since 2021 and kept paying rent. Her partner, the father of the children, died in February 2024, and his grandmother, the registered tenant, died months later. She reported both deaths to Gebalis and asked to be added to the residents' register so she could regularise the tenancy. Gebalis reportedly accepted her payments until December 2025, then told her the documents she had submitted were not sufficient and that she had to leave. Her challenge, supported by legal aid, did not stop the process, and an enforcement order for the eviction followed. Her lawyer rejected Gebalis's version, saying it did not match the truth. Angleu countered that the children's birth certificates list a different address.

Protest and the housing movement

The vigil was organised by the Marvila residents' commission COMUM, and the Acampada de Lisboa movement joined it. The Acampada has camped at Rossio square since the weekend and decided on Thursday night to move its protest to Marvila. Protesters chanted against evictions and held placards citing Article 65 of Portugal's constitution, which guarantees a home of adequate size and hygienic conditions. A spokesperson for the Acampada told the crowd:

“For every eviction, 1,000 occupations. For every eviction, 1,000 encampments.”

COMUM spokesperson João Albuquerque said he visited the Bairro do Condado recently and found the metal doors of the flat still closed. The commission counts three empty homes on the same lot. He said the family now lives with the children's grandfather in a three-bedroom flat with six people, which he described as without privacy or dignity.

“We were there last week and the metal doors were still there.”

Official position and open questions

Gebalis says its actions were scrutinised by administrative courts and that two precautionary injunctions seeking to halt the vacating of the flat were both decided in its favour. Angleu told the press conference:

“We are only putting into practice compliance with the law and the existing regulations, and we do so with great humanity.”

In a note to RTP Antena 1, Gebalis said the housing situation had been carefully analysed both administratively and judicially, but that the documents presented did not prove the legal requirements for regularisation. According to Gebalis, the flat is currently vacant, and the 84-year-old man is staying with relatives while he waits for a smaller home. The widow is enrolled in a rental programme and is still waiting for a home. COMUM is pressing for the eviction to be reversed.