The Ministry of Regional Development (MMR) originally wanted to build 5,000 social flats from European subsidies for social housing by the end of 2023. In the end, by then, a maximum of 2,212 will be created, which is less than half, the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) found out. According to them, the main reason was the low interest of the applicants. For example, they criticizes the Ministry for not taking into account the costs in terms of the supported apartment, bed or person. It also draws attention to the long duration of project evaluation, according to a statement from the Ministry of Regional Development.
The auditors focused on how the ministry distributed subsidies from the Integrated Regional Operational Program for social housing in the years 2016 to 2021. They also focused on a sample of nine supported projects worth almost CZK 80 million.
Due to lack of interest in support, the Ministry reduced the amount of money prepared from the original CZK 7.5 billion in 2015 to CZK 4.5 billion in 2017. Only then did it make the conditions for obtaining subsidies more attractive, which partially increased interest. However, in 2017, 28 projects did not reach support, even though they met the conditions, according to NKÚ.
According to the office, a number of applicants withdrew from their projects after the Ministry of Regional Development had already decided to obtain a subsidy. By the end of the inspection, 76 projects had ended, thanks to which 522 social flats were to be created. The applicants cited, for example, the uncertainty of the legal environment resulting from the non-existence of the Social Housing Act or the high administrative burden.
The NKÚ stated that when selecting projects, the Ministry of Regional Development did not take into account the costs in terms of the supported apartment, bed or person using social housing, nor did it set any other criteria that would take into account the money spent compared to their benefits. The evaluation period of the project was on average 252 days, mainly due to the long obtaining of a building permit. The ministry originally expected the project to take about 152 days to evaluate.
Last but not least, the Ministry of Regional Development does not evaluate the impact of support on increasing the quality and availability of services leading to social inclusion, which is one of the goals to be achieved through subsidies,” the auditors warned. According to them, comprehensive information on the given area is needed for such an evaluation, for example on the total number of social flats in the Czech Republic or data on the number of social flats needed. However, the Ministry of Regional Development did not have this information at the time of the inspection, according to NKÚ.
