In Brno-Center, the number of unoccupied apartments is increasing, with over 550 of them

Brno - In the Brno-střed district, the number of vacant apartments is increasing, opposition councilor Bohumil Straka (TOP 09) told reporters today. While last year before the elections there were about 450 empty apartments out of approximately 5100 under the old ODS and ČSSD leadership, he said that now under the new coalition of Žít Brno, ANO, KDU-ČSL, and SZ, there are more than 550 unoccupied. The number of apartments, however, has decreased to 4500 due to sales. The municipality is losing about two million crowns monthly in rent, Straka added. Mayor Martin Landa (Žít Brno) told ČTK that around 160 vacant apartments have already been allocated to someone. However, there are currently no tenants in them.
    Straka points out that the winning movement Žít Brno promised to fill the empty apartments during the elections. “Žít Brno claimed before the elections that it couldn't get any worse and would inhabit hundreds of vacant apartments in the center. However, after a year of governing, the opposite is proving to be true,” said Straka. According to him, the number of apartments in ownership has decreased by about 600 due to privatization, but the number of unoccupied apartments has increased by about 100.
    However, Landa claims that the number of genuinely vacant apartments is decreasing. “Their number has been declining since we took office. While there are still no tenants in 550 apartments, we have already allocated about 160 of them to someone. However, we do not yet have a signed contract and the tenants do not yet have keys, but everything is in process. It may take two to three months,” Landa said, adding that the number of available apartments is therefore less than 400.
    According to Straka, the municipality is not offering vacant apartments adequately. “Only dozens are available on the notice boards instead of hundreds, privatization has been halted, and the municipality is also not investing as much money into repairs as it could. Therefore, the buildings are deteriorating,” Straka said. He added that the municipality has the opportunity to invest in repairs from collected rents and from reserves from previous years of around 200 million crowns, but has only allocated nearly 80 million crowns for renovations. “We are investing in repairs at the same rate as in previous election periods. However, we will try to strengthen this and are preparing projects to increase repairs,” Landa added.