The management of the Prague City Hall wants the city councils to send the money obtained from the sale of flats to the city fund intended to finance the development of affordable housing. City spokesman Vít Hofman announced. The city would allocate the money to the town halls for specific projects. Some city districts are criticizing the proposal and it does not have full support even in the Prague coalition.
The change would mean that town halls would not be able to freely dispose of the money they would receive from the sale of apartments entrusted to their administration. They would travel to the already existing Affordable Housing Development Fund, where money from the sale of municipal flats went before the privatization stopped. If the change is approved, the money for the given city district would be reserved for investment projects in the residential area.
The amendment would require a change in the statute of the capital, which is a decree governing the internal organization of the metropolis. According to the city councilor for housing Adam Zábranský (Pirates), the municipality has already sent the change to a comment procedure, in which the city districts will comment on it.
“Most of the city’s flats are managed by the town hall, about 23,000. The municipality has around 7,000 of them. in some parts of the city it continues,” said Zábranský.
Councilor Jan Chabr (TOP 09) previously proposed that the sale of flats by city districts be subject to approval by the city council. Some town halls opposed it. This is also the case with the new proposal of the Pirates, which also does not seem to be the leadership of a number of city districts. Some members of the city management, for example from the United Forces for Prague (TOP 09 and STAN), are also against it.
“I expect that in the comment procedure, the city districts will express their concerns about the loss of income that the change in the statute would bring. It is clear to me that further discussion of the change in the statute depends on resolving this economic aspect,” said Zábranský.
In recent years, Prague has been facing a housing crisis due to high apartment prices. According to the current coalition, one of the solutions is to expand the city’s housing stock, which offers rental housing to people in need or representatives of the professions necessary for the city. According to the strategy approved last year, the city wants to expand the number of its flats by 500 per year, but in recent years their number has been declining and new ones are practically not being built. According to representatives of the current coalition, the city is planning its own construction and also cooperation with private individuals, whether they are development companies, construction cooperatives or smaller civic associations.
Source: CTK
