A new programme to support rental housing is being launched today by the State Fund for Investment Support (SFPI). It should distribute CZK 800 million in subsidies and loans. Around 300 rental flats could be created, mainly municipal ones. Regional Development Minister Ivan Bartoš (Piráti) said this at a press conference today. His office is also preparing a draft law on housing support. According to the legislative plan, the government should receive the norm by October.
“About 300 rental flats can be built for CZK 800 million. It will not significantly improve the situation, but it is one of the first steps of support,” Bartoš said.
City councils can apply for half a billion, while associations and private investors can apply for 300 million. The money can be used for new construction and reconstruction. The resulting flats will be rented out at a price that is customary in the locality for at least 20 years.
According to the minister, the support will now consist of a subsidy and a loan. The combination will be set according to the local situation. “The ratio of the subsidy and loan part will vary according to the long-term profitability of the operation. If it is high – for example, in Prague, where whatever you build is immediately profitable, the subsidy component will be significantly lower,” Bartoš explained. The subsidy is meant to “get rental housing moving” and contribute to the creation of apartments, he said.
Bartoš thinks that the combination of subsidies and credit will better target the support. Part of the borrowed money will then be returned and used again for further construction, the minister added.
The Rental Housing Association welcomes the programme, but considers it more of a symbolic start of support. “In truth, it is necessary to state that the involvement of the private sector in the game of the future of housing in the Czech Republic (the programme) does not solve practically. The amount is too small to involve private companies. Moreover, the details of how private investors could get involved are not yet clear,” the association responded in a press release. It believes that other projects with longer-term support will contribute to more substantial private sector involvement.
By 2025, SFPI is expected to provide CZK 3 billion for housing construction. The ministry is in talks with the EU for further subsidies of up to eight billion crowns from the National Recovery Plan.
According to Bartos, the construction of flats is to be facilitated by changes to the construction law, which is expected to be discussed by the Senate in May. A law on housing support is also being drafted, and the draft is now being considered by the individual departments of the ministries of regional development and labour. Other ministries could receive it in May. According to the legislative roadmap, the government should receive the draft in October and the law should come into force in 2025.
In its programme statement, the government promises to prepare a law on housing support in the first two years of its term that will offer municipalities a “set of optional tools” to address the housing situation. It should set the rules for funding. The cabinet writes in the programme that it will prepare “financial instruments” for the construction of rental housing. “At the end of the parliamentary term, up to 10,000 extra rental flats could be built per year,” the government said in a statement.
Source: CTK
