474 rental flats will be built from the billion subsidy of the State Fund for Investment Support (SFPI). Three quarters of them should be ready in 2025. 23 local governments and nine legal entities have received subsidies from the Rental Housing programme. The funds were distributed among the interested parties in four months and the fund had already increased the funds for this year by another CZK 256 million from the original CZK 800 million due to high interest. Roughly two-thirds of this amount was obtained by the applicants in the form of a loan with an interest rate of around three per cent, the rest was made up of subsidies, it was announced today by the Ministry of Regional Development (MMR).
“This is a promising new beginning. Almost three-quarters of municipalities are dissatisfied with their housing stock, but they have hardly applied for state support for construction in recent years. We have significantly adjusted the conditions to suit local governments,” said Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalisation and Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš (Piráti).
The largest number of 135 rental flats financed from the subsidy programme will be built in the Zlín Region. Zlín itself received a CZK 111 million subsidy, which will be used to build a five-storey building with 31 3+kk flats. According to the director of SFPI, Daniel Ryšávky, the flats should serve mainly families with children. For example, the village of Svojek in the Semily region with 179 inhabitants also received a CZK 1.3 million subsidy. It should use the money to convert an old kindergarten building into rental housing.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the Affordable Housing programme should also expand the offer of support for the construction of municipal rental flats under the SFPI next year. The SFPI and the MMR are currently negotiating its terms with the European Commission. In addition to funding from the state budget, the programme will consist mainly of money from the National Recovery Plan. The ministry plans that this European money will be channelled into construction support through the National Development Bank in addition to the SFPI.
“We cannot rely only on public resources for such large investments. With the involvement of the private sector, we want to get up to CZK 20 billion into affordable housing over the next few years. This is an opportunity to start a long-term positive trend,” Bartoš added.
Investments in the construction and reconstruction of flats are part of the broader Housing for Life reform, which also includes, for example, a new construction law, the straightening of tenancy relations and a draft law on housing support. Its aim is to increase the long-term affordability of housing in the Czech Republic.
The MMR will manage a budget of CZK 15.1 billion next year, CZK 7 billion less than this year. Compared to the previous draft budget for 2024, the amount has increased by less than CZK 3 billion. SFPI will manage a budget of CZK 4.25 billion next year.
Next year, state budget spending on MMR subsidy programmes will also fall by CZK 1.27 billion. The biggest saving of CZK 800 million will be recorded in the programme for the support of regional development. Support for affordable housing will also be reduced by 200 million and support related to the promotion of tourism in the regions by 150 million.
Source: CTK
