Brno will not provide additional apartments for people in need for now, having previously allocated 70

Brno - Brno will not provide additional apartments for people in housing need at this time, as the city council today did not approve the allocation of an additional 20 apartments. Deputy Mayor Robert Kerndl (ODS) told reporters that Brno does not have that many free apartments, especially since most must be outside socially excluded areas. Brno has already designated 70 apartments for people in housing need this year.

Initially, the city allocated 50 apartments for people in distress in the first half of the year, and in September, an additional 20 apartments were added. Today, the council could have added another 20 apartments. However, the proposal was not approved, despite being requested by MP Olga Richterová (Pirates) who came from Prague for this purpose.

"The vote showed that it was close," Richterová stated. However, she sees continuity between earlier Brno projects aimed at ending homelessness and the current projects. "For me, there is continuity, and the apartments are available. On one hand, there are not that few, because there are 70. With today's decision, the city has turned off the tap for financing related social care, so I regret that it was not supported," Richterová added.

Cities can draw funds from two calls from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MPSV) in connection with the designated apartments for social workers, who will work with people in housing need to help them out of difficult situations. From call 52, Brno wants to draw nine million crowns for the designated 50 apartments, and it aims to draw additional millions from call 108, where it designated 20 apartments. According to Kerndl, there is a condition for this call that 70 percent of the designated apartments must be outside socially excluded areas, which is a problem for the city. Most of the empty apartments, located in one of the largest city districts, Brno-Center and Brno-North, are in excluded areas.

Projects aimed at ending homelessness began in Brno under the previous coalition led by the ANO movement, which was initiated by Žít Brno. ANO is now in opposition, while Žít Brno is not in the council. Other cities have been inspired by Brno; they can draw funds for the projects from MPSV.