Prague – Prague City Hall will try out the role of a developer in the coming years. He plans to build city apartments in different parts of the metropolis. So far, it has set aside two billion crowns for their construction and, at the same time, the purchase of land. In the first phase, it will invest in housing for socially disadvantaged families.

According to Radek Lack (ANO), the first such project for housing, it should take place in Černý Most. Push Prague intends to build an apartment building for a family with children. According to rough estimates, it should cost approximately 500 million crowns.

The town hall is looking for suitable places for other houses. “We are looking for land on which to build. We have recently stopped selling our plot in Hostivař. This could be suitable for construction,” says Deputy Petra Kolínská (Green Party), who is in charge of spatial planning.

According to her, it is crucial that city flats are created uniformly throughout Prague, and not only in one place. At present, about half of the nine thousand flats managed directly by the municipality are located in three areas – Stodůlky, Hlubočepy and the already mentioned Černý Most.

Cooperation with development is at stake

In order for the flats to be evenly distributed throughout the city, the municipality is considering cooperation with developers. For example, he could buy more apartments from them as part of their private projects.

So far, however, this is only one of the options. A clearer outline of how the city will deal with the two billion is to be outlined in the near future by a commission set up by Prague councilors for this purpose. Its task is, among other things, to determine how many flats Prague wants to own in the end.

There are now a total of 610,000 flats in the capital – 35,000 of which belong to the city, whether it is administered directly by the municipality or individual city districts. They could increase in the future thanks to the construction of hundreds to thousands of city apartments. In the meantime, however, their supply is getting thinner. This year alone, according to an analysis by the consulting company KPMG, Prague will sell up to 2,400 housing units to private owners.

“This is due to the ongoing privatization, which was approved several years ago,” Kolínská explains why the city is planning to build apartments on the one hand and getting rid of them on the other.

The money from privatization goes straight to the housing fund, from which new projects will be financed. It is currently home to two billion crowns. Repairs to old apartment buildings will then also be paid from the fund.

Social flats will be created first

While in the first phase the city plans to build social housing, in the next phase, according to Kolín, it could already be housing units intended for residents without financial difficulties. It depends on the results of the working group’s deliberations and, among other things, the attitudes of individual city districts.

According to the deputy, Kolínské město is also reacting to the planned law on social housing. According to him, municipalities should provide apartments with reduced rents to their poorest residents. However, according to experts, the capital has no problem in this regard.

“Prague is not forced to address the need to acquire new municipal flats for social purposes, such as Ústí nad Labem or Liberec,” says KPMG manager Pavel Dolák.