The way out for people in distress is social housing, say activists and experts

Prague - The only way to help people in need in the Czech Republic and to get them out of housing distress or homelessness is a functioning system of social housing. Reducing housing benefits will not solve the problem and will not get tenants out of dormitories. Representatives of the Platform for Social Housing and other non-governmental organizations said this today at a protest against the reduction of benefits for dormitories.
    The government committed in its program declaration and coalition agreement to prepare and promote a law on social housing. According to the original plan, it was supposed to take effect in 2017, with the cabinet expected to receive its outlines by the summer. As of now, even the concept from which the regulation is supposed to be based has not yet been approved. Minister of Labor Michaela Marksová (CSSD) recently stated that her office would present the concept to the cabinet by the end of September.
    "No government apart from this one has committed to addressing the situation since the 1990s. Two years have passed. Now is the time to remind the cabinet of this," said Vít Lesák from the Platform for Social Housing. According to him, the platform intends to increase pressure on politicians.
    The cabinet was supposed to approve the concept by the end of June. However, the coalition could not agree on it and requested an impact analysis. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (CSSD) previously admitted that the original deadline would likely not be met. Marksová stated that work on the outlines of the law is being done simultaneously with the concept.
    "We do not have a clear political signal that anyone is really working on the social housing law. For now, those efforts seem to be delayed," said the head of the platform, Štěpán Ripka, to ČTK. He hopes that the government will adopt the concept in the coming weeks and return to the original schedule.
    According to another government concept - the concept of preventing homelessness - there are around 30,000 people without shelter in the Czech Republic and approximately 100,000 individuals are at risk of losing their housing. Poverty and exclusion threatened 14.8 percent of Czechs last year, according to statisticians, which amounts to about 1.5 million. "The number of poor people is increasing, despite various strategies and commissions being created with significant effort and funding. However, these alone are not enough. A political decision to take care of those who otherwise have no chance has yet to be made," believes Milena Černá, director of the Committee of Good Will - Olga Havlová Foundation.
    According to representatives of the platform, the cabinet should fight "against poverty, not against the poor." The Ministry proposes reducing housing benefits for people in dormitories. According to Marksová, this aims to prevent the trade in poverty, which means the flow of benefits from the state into unsuitable and overpriced housing. "The only way is a functional system of social housing that will pull people out of distress and help them bounce back into life. They will then not be forced to live in dormitories," added Ripka. According to him, there is no other way out of dormitories, and people cannot get out of them on their own due to a lack of money, with dignified and affordable housing options missing.
    If social housing were available, people would have long since stopped living in dormitories, according to field social worker Petra Hrubá. "I don’t know anyone who would want to be there," said Hrubá. She has been working with residents of dormitories for five years.