Social housing in Prague: The Municipal Rental Agency (MNA) was established
The service will help people who have difficulty finding a rental housing market. These are, for example, the elderly, families with children, single people or young adults who leave institutional care. The aim is then to reduce the excess of demand over the supply of city apartments. “Insufficiently available flats, which we approved for those interested in flats, could provide,” said Hajkova.
The municipality will guarantee the income to the owners who agree with the city agency. The specific amount of rent will be determined, for example, by location. Preliminarily, a part of around 200 crowns per square meter is calculated.
The city guarantees the owner compensation for any damages incurred, when the MNA will be insured. The rental agency will dispose of the rights to the apartment only from the position of the landlord. Apartments will have to meet minimum standards. “We don’t have to make a profit on vacant apartments,” said Hajkova. People will be able to report to the system through the contact point for housing at the municipality’s headquarters in the Škoda Palace in Jungmannova Street.
The MNA will not function as an independent legal entity, but under the city contribution organization Center of Social Services Prague (CSSP). Due to the establishment of a rental agency, the charter of the CSSP must be changed, which the city council should do in March, according to Zábranský.
Pilot project for two years
The pilot project is two years old and this year will require approximately 5.4 million crowns. “It’s a new project in the Czech Republic, so we want to test it on that pilot. As far as it works and it makes sense, we can expand it in less than two years, but there is a big unknown about how it will work in practice, “said Zábranský.
In recent years, Prague has been facing a housing crisis, due to low construction and high housing prices. There are a total of about 31,500 flats owned by the municipality and city districts, out of the original number of 194,000, which after 1991 became the property of the city. Subsequent privatizations, which reduced the city fund by more than 80 percent.