“We expect to launch the procedure for this project in the next few days and launch the rehabilitation project in the first half of 2024”, said the vice president of the Azorean executive (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM), Artur Lima, adding that the works should be completed “by December 2025”.

The government official responsible for the Housing area was speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the “Nascer do Sol” neighbourhood, in Praia da Vitória.

In 2015, when it reduced personnel at the Lajes base, on the island of Terceira, the US Air Force stopped using two neighbourhoods, “Nascer do Sol” and “Beira-Mar”, located next to the base, in Praia da Vitória, with around 450 houses, as well as a school.

In 2018, the infrastructures were transferred by the Portuguese Air Force to the Regional Government of the Azores (PS), which did not move forward with its rehabilitation.

In 2019, the Azorean parliament approved a recommendation from the Bloco de Esquerda for the executive to include part of the housing in social housing responses and in the rental market with controlled costs.

According to Artur Lima, the work that will now be launched “has nothing to do with the Bloco de Esquerda proposal”, with the houses intended for rent with the option to purchase.

The vice-president of the Regional Government said that the current executive, who took office in 2020, inherited homes that were not yet registered.

The rehabilitation works of the 92 homes, of type T3 and T4, are budgeted at 5 million euros, but will be financed, in full, by funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

As for the remaining houses in “Nascer do Sol” and “Beira-Mar”, Artur Lima said that they will be rehabilitated in a second phase, but some of them should be used to attract qualified employees to the island of Terceira.

“The former American school is a complex with very good infrastructure and will eventually be able to carry out projects to retain people in the area of science and technology,” he said.