The Housing Support Act will go into public consultation next week

Prague – The Law on Housing Support, which is being prepared by the Ministry for Regional Development (MMR), is expected to enter interdepartmental comment proceedings next week, where other institutions and additional commenting bodies will express their opinions on it. By the end of the year, it should be submitted to the government for discussion and is set to come into effect in 2025. Minister Ivan Bartoš (Pirates) stated this at today’s round table on the Future of Housing in the Czech Republic, which took place in the Chamber of Deputies. He mentioned that the law would encompass up to 1.4 million people who are at risk of losing their homes, facing excessive costs, or experiencing energy poverty.

Bartoš's predecessor and current Deputy Speaker of the Chamber Klára Dostálová (ANO) stated that the situation regarding housing affordability is more than alarming. Bartoš also confirmed that there is a housing crisis in the country. Both agreed that the situation can only be addressed through a combination of various tools, not just by changing laws.

The proposed law on housing support has already undergone the regulatory impact assessment process, and its paragraph wording is ready, Bartoš said. According to MMR, the law is intended to offer municipalities a set of optional measures that will allow them to address the needs of their residents in accordance with their requirements. The law is set to support various forms of counseling at contact points, private sector housing using guarantees for landlords, and motivating municipalities to develop their municipal housing stock.

"We can definitely support this norm if we are involved in its creation at all,” said Dostálová to ČTK and Czech Television. If the law's creation proceeds in such a way that the MPs from ANO only learn about the paragraph wording and prepare comprehensive amendment proposals, then this is not the right path, according to the former minister. The most pressing issues should be discussed among participants before the proposal goes for approval, she stated. According to her, this would also facilitate discussions in the Chamber.

Bartoš pointed out that there is no universal solution for achieving greater housing availability and that it will always be a matter of a set of tools, laws, and the will of politicians. Among other things, he wants to offer municipalities investment tools and also provide them with the necessary knowledge to implement housing projects. In smaller municipalities, it is not realistic for them to have their own teams to calculate investments, he believes.

Dostálová suggested options for solutions, such as a new delineation of powers for regions and municipalities or the return of the institution of permanent and temporary residence, which she believes could assist in fighting poverty. According to her, support is deserved for both ownership and rental housing, as well as cooperative construction. She believes that allowing the division of multi-generational houses to create two housing units would have a significant effect. "Many young families would choose this form of housing," she noted. She also mentioned multi-generational mortgages as another potential solution.

Direct solutions to housing distress according to the MMR model amount to approximately 2.5 billion crowns. Indirect costs are difficult to quantify, but the estimate for state costs is about four times higher, Bartoš stated. Housing distress in the sense of social housing, where citizens need immediate housing assistance with guarantees, concerns approximately 154,000 people, according to Bartoš.

The Constitutional Court warned in early May that uncertainty associated with housing may threaten people’s confidence in a democratic rule of law. The Czech Republic lacks a law on social housing, said the court. According to it, this is a long-term unsustainable situation that contradicts the country's international commitments.