Hatzidakis: Affordable and quality housing for young and vulnerable citizens – The bill is in public consultation

The four housing policy actions of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, included in the Government’s Social Housing Strategy, are established by the bill entitled “My home – housing policy for young people, utilization of public property for social housing and other provisions”, the which was put up for public consultation.

These are the “My Home” programs (granting low-interest or interest-free loans for the acquisition of a first home), Social Compensation (utilization of State real estate to provide low-rent housing), “Coverage” (renting of private homes and making available to young beneficiaries the guaranteed minimum income) and “Renovate – Rent” (subsidy of the renovation of private houses that will then be made available for rent), which emphasize the housing rehabilitation of young and new families as well as vulnerable groups of citizens.

Read more: “My house”: The new roof program in 10 + 1 questions and answers

The same bill establishes the necessary urban planning and other regulations to remove obstacles and speed up the implementation of the housing policy.

The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakis, noted: “The provisions of the bill that is being put to public consultation, are part of the Social Housing Strategy “My Home!” which was recently approved by the Council of Ministers and includes a network of immediate and medium-term actions, with the aim of obtaining affordable and quality housing for thousands of young people, young couples and our vulnerable fellow citizens. Among these are interest-free or low-interest loans for young people and families with many children, new – for our country – tools such as the social compensation already applied in other European countries, the continuation of the leases of the “Estia” program for the housing of young people with low incomes, the financing programs for the renovation of existing old houses. They are actions funded by European and national resources that benefit both our fellow citizens who will acquire housing and, the property owners, the State that makes use of its property, as well as employment in the technical professions. With these arrangements, the state is reactivating housing policy – from which it has been absent in recent years – for the benefit of society as a whole”.

In particular, the basic provisions provide for the following:

1. “My Home” program
Beneficiaries of interest-free or low-interest loans are people aged 25-39 with an annual income of 10,000 euros up to the limit provided for the granting of a heating allowance and who do not own a property suitable for their residence.

The properties must have a value of up to 200,000 euros, an area of ​​up to 150 sq.m. and at least 15 years old, while the terms of the loan stipulate the following:

a) The purchase of the property cannot be made by a first or second degree relative of the buyer.
b) The property is acquired in full ownership by the buyer or, in the case of spouses or partners in a cohabitation agreement, in >50% ownership for each of them.
c) The amount of the loan cannot exceed 150,000 euros and the duration thirty years.
d) The loan covers up to 90% of the value of the property (the rest is covered by the buyer).
e) The loan is 75% financed by DYPA. No interest is due for the percentage of the loan financed by DYPA, while the remaining 25% is granted by the banks (they will be selected after a public invitation by DYPA). This means that 3/4 of the loan is granted interest-free, with the result that the final interest rate paid by the borrower for the entire amount is a quarter of the cost of a normal mortgage.
f) For three or multiple children, the loan will be interest-free. The loan will also be interest-free for those who have 3 or more children during its repayment period.
g) The provision of a third party personal guarantee cannot be requested as a condition for granting the loan.
h) The loan is exempt from the contribution of par. 3 of article 1 of Law 128/1975.

It is recalled that the total budget of the program is 500 million euros (with provision for doubling in case of exhaustion of available resources), while it is estimated that the beneficiaries will be 10,000 young people or young couples aged 25-39. The implementation of the program is expected in the first quarter of 2023.

2. Social Compensation
This is a new institution added to the “toolbox” of DYPA for housing policy. It is defined as: “Partnership of bodies of the General Government, with private contractors, in which the contractor erects a building at his own expense on undeveloped property of the body and his consideration consists in the exploitation of the property for a certain period of time with the parallel obligation to rent it out part of it to beneficiaries against a predetermined rent. After the end of the exploitation period, the contractor is obliged to hand over the property to the owner operator”.

According to the bill, eligible tenants are selected based on objective social criteria, while in addition to simply renting the houses at a low rent, it will also be allowed to sign lease contracts with an option to purchase them from the beneficiaries (rent to own). It is further provided that:

– The Social Compensation can also concern structured properties. In this case, the scope of the contract includes the demolition of the buildings, which is done at the contractor’s expense.
– The percentage of horizontal properties that are leased to beneficiaries corresponds to a percentage between 30% and 60% of the total property.
– The selection of the contractor is made following a public invitation in which at least the following are described:
a) the unstructured property, any existing buildings located within it, and the characteristics of the building to be erected on it,
b) the horizontal properties that will be established and their permitted uses,
c) the criteria for participation and selection of the contractor,
d) the basic terms of the lease contracts between the contractor and the beneficiaries, except for the rent.

The goal of the program is the construction of 2,500 social houses for 5,000 young beneficiaries up to 39 years of age.

3. Program Coverage
It concerns the leasing by the State of private houses that participated in the “Estia” program for housing immigrants, and their provision to vulnerable young people and young couples. According to the bill:

– The owners of the properties rent them for three years to people aged 25-39, beneficiaries of the Minimum Guaranteed Income.
– The rent is paid by the General Secretariat for Solidarity and Combating Poverty, which also covers the costs for repairs to the properties before they are rented out as part of the “Coverage” program.
The aim is to utilize in the first phase at least 1,000 properties, which will house 2,500 beneficiaries aged 25-39, beneficiaries of the Minimum Guaranteed Income.

4. Renovate – Rent
It aims to bring vacant homes into the rental market by subsidizing owners for their renovation. The bill provides that homeowners with an annual income of up to 40,000 euros and real estate up to 300,000 euros participate in the program, while those who have joined energy saving or renovation programs for any of their properties in the last five years are excluded.

The property must have an area of ​​up to 100 sq.m. and located in an urban area, it must not have been declared as a first residence, or as rented but listed as vacant in the E2 of the last three years.

Those joining the program are subsidized for repair and renovation costs up to 10,000 euros, (materials and works included). The subsidy reaches 40% of the cost provided that the invoices are paid electronically and the property is leased for at least three years.
With other provisions of the bill:

– The special land use category “social housing” is established, as a subset of the special land use category “residential” and it is defined to which general land use categories it corresponds.
– The granting of real estate by the State to local self-government organizations of the first and second degree, NPDD and NPID controlled by the State is revoked, since 15 years have passed since the grant and the purpose for which it was made was not realized.
– The application of an existing rapid procedure for determining the compensation due on both sides is envisaged, in order to quickly determine the new boundaries of the plots, in the rezoned areas where there are public properties.
– The beneficiaries and the construction process of the houses that will be made available to fire victims in the “Mati” area of ​​Eastern Attica, with the utilization of the relevant donation from the Republic of Cyprus, are defined.
– Regulations are established for the utilization of properties of the former Workers’ Housing Organization. Specifically:

Stores or assembly areas that were allocated to OTAs and are leased by businesses may continue to be used by them, even if they do not have an active lease or concession of use, until the completion of the tender procedures by DYPA.
After 25 years have passed since the drawing of lots for the selection of concessionary settlers in settlements of the former Workers’ Housing Organization, if there are still unallocated houses, DYPA issues a public invitation to the runners-up, in order to grant them the unallocated houses.

The deadline for the liquidation of “Olympic Village SA” is extended until December 31, 2023.

TEKA staffing issues are regulated by other provisions, while it is finally provided that:

“Meals are considered a supply in kind necessary for the operation of the business and are not subject to insurance contributions only when their value does not exceed the amount of six euros per working day and are exchanged only for meals, ready meals, ready-to-eat foods, beverages , in a contracted network of stores, on the basis of contracts between the issuer of the feeding orders and the stores”

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