There’s a construction site in Penafiel, in the North of Portugal, building much more than a building: it’s giving shape to a vision of inclusive, shared environments, designed for the dignity and quality of life of those who will come to live there. The LeTs-Care team was there today, alongside the developers, helping to think through this new model of collaborative housing for Portugal.
On September 4th, 2026 the LeTs-Care team at the University of Porto visited Penafiel, where Conferência Vicentina de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Penafiel, a non-profit organisation is building one of Portugal’s first collaborative housing facilities, and it was an inspiring visit.
We were invited by the project’s developers, who wanted to hear what our research on collaborative housing across Europe could bring to their project, still in the preparation stage before starting operations.
What struck us most was how different this building is from the traditional landscape of social care facilities in Portugal. The architectural project brings together autonomy and person-centredness with collaboration, inclusiveness and participation, indeed a genuinely new model taking shape.
Some of our takeaways from the visit:
- The developers were refreshingly aware that the person who takes on the coordinator role will be decisive for how the facility evolves. This comes in line with our call at LeTs-care for the importance of looking at care work and care professionals at the centre of quality of care.
- There’s real appetite for building an ongoing partnership with our research team and the University, as a two-way learning process, not a one-off consultation. This is how we serve the community at LeTs-Care.
- Many essential questions are still open: who the future residents will be, how they’ll be selected, how daily operations will be funded, and what regulatory model will apply.
That openness is not unique to this project. Collaborative housing funding in Portugal is very recent, channelled through PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan) funds, and the call for projects moved fast, arguably faster than the thinking behind it. Even as the first funded projects near opening, the legislation defining their operating and funding model is still to be written.
It is a striking example of how policy ideas can travel and shape decisions at a national level without enough consideration for the context where they land. Collaborative housing is having a moment internationally, and it is hard not to feel Portugal joined the trend before fully working out what implementing it here actually entails.
But this moment of regulatory “emptiness” is also an opportunity: everything is still open for decision.
And that is exactly where LeTs-Care wants to be, helping promoters, policymakers and future residents shape a model of collaborative housing that truly fits Portugal.
And that is exactly where LeTs-Care wants to be, helping promoters, policymakers and future residents shape a model of collaborative housing that truly fits Portugal.
If you are building a collaborative housing project and could use some company along the way, the LeTs-Care teams are here to support!
