The bill “Reformation of the “Housing and Work for the Homeless” program and other arrangements for the improvement of social welfare services – Establishment of horizontal support services of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family and other provisions” was passed. In the vote, on principle, the ND voted “yes”. “No” the opposition parties, with the exception of Freedom Sailing which declared “present”.

“We proved that the support of the family, the support of our vulnerable fellow citizens, the creation of a strong network of social care was not, is not and cannot be the privilege of only one place”, underlined the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Sofia Zaharakis who was mentioned in what has been done to date since the establishment of the ministry for which he has political responsibility.

Sofia Zaharaki, closing the discussion of the bill, responded to all those who claimed in the previous hours that the government’s priorities are not to support the vulnerable.

“I am obliged to remind you that during the tenure of the SYRIZA government, a significant modification of the middle class emerged from the great welfare state of that time, brought about by the very conscious choices of the SYRIZA and ANEL governments. They dragged the country, and no one will forget it, unnecessarily in the third memorandum, in the name of a proud negotiation, they closed the banks, imposed capital controls, pensioners found themselves in bank queues for 40 euros, businesses closed”, said the Minister of Social Affairs of Cohesion and Family and underlined that the current government clearly has a fixed goal of fighting inequalities, reducing poverty by reducing unemployment, creating new jobs, allocating resources to support vulnerable citizens.

Among other things, the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family pointed out, indicatively, about the welfare state that:

– OPECA, from 2019 to 2023, gave 16 billion euros, allowances, benefits, programs for families with children, uninsured elderly, homeless. In 2023 alone, 3 million beneficiaries and beneficiaries were given an amount that exceeded 3.5 billion euros. Tomorrow 187,188,000 euros will be paid to 679,652 beneficiaries, citizens who are most in need of support.

– With the measures taken by the government, Greece is now the second country in the OECD in terms of maternity benefits. Tomorrow, retroactive payments will be made to mothers who gave birth in 2023 – 58. 912 women will receive an amount of 36,247,500 euros – the payments for ’24 will be made with the increased amount.

-the beneficiaries of the “housing and work” program are expanded. Its budget is increased to 15 million euros, aiming to benefit more than 700 households and to extend the implementation of the program to at least 60 municipalities (out of the 42 we had in the last two years). In 2018, 405 households benefited from the previous program, of which 399 were housed, and 533 households are included in the current program, while 481 households have been housed. That is, there is an increasing trend and development.

– In 2023, 383 million euros were given to 264,531 beneficiaries for housing allowance. For 2024, 400 million euros have been budgeted.

-The “My Home” program has already given 5784 couples (including disbursed loans) the opportunity to own their own home. “There are young couples with an average age of 34 and an average income of 16,000 able to get their loan, whereas until now, they could not approach the bank.” The loan is disbursed within a few months. By the end of the year, it is estimated that disbursed applications will reach 10,000.

– social housing pilot actions will be attempted, with the municipalities of Athens and Thessaloniki, to utilize their housing stock. The program will have 250 beneficiaries in the municipality of Athens and 120 beneficiaries in Thessaloniki.

– More vouchers will be allocated to families to cover more places for infants, KDAP for typical development and KDAP for the disabled. For the year 2023-2024, 177,146 vouchers were covered in nurseries, KDAP and KDAP for the disabled, i.e. 7,890 vouchers more compared to last year and 55,000 more children compared to the 2018-2019 period.

– A 70 million euro fund is directed from the Recovery Fund for the creation of 20,000 new places in nurseries. It is possible for the Municipalities of the country to create new kindergartens or new places in the existing ones.

– from the new TEBA, 400 million euros will be directed to the 13 Regions for the constant support of 303,000 beneficiaries of the Minimum Guaranteed Income who will be provided with free food, personal hygiene products, household consumables, school supplies, etc. at regular intervals.

– school meals are increased for 231 thousand primary school children in 153 municipalities and special care is taken for 10 municipalities in the affected Thessaly.

– The financial support of the Social Welfare Centers was increased. 13,810,000 euros the regular budget for all the Centers when 7,350,000 euros were allocated during your Government.

– 8 of the 12 Social Welfare Centers of the ministry have acquired with p.d. modern organization, and by the end of the year the final plans for all the Social Welfare Centers will be completed. There will also be permanent staff recruitment. With PYS that have already been approved, 616 employees will work in the supervised bodies of the ministry. Only for the Social Welfare Centers are 511 permanent employees of all categories.