New apartments on the horizon. Cooperative construction with the participation of the city will begin in Radlická
The project of cooperative housing with city support, including parameters and legal requirements, was approved by the municipal coalition at the end of last year. According to councilor Hana Kordová Marvanová (United Forces / STAN), who is to be in charge of this, this is the “fastest solution” to the shortage of available flats on the market. The politician claims that the prices of cooperative flats can be up to a third cheaper than market ones.
“It is a reaction to the unsustainable situation of unavailability of housing, when the price is rising at a dizzying pace, especially in Prague – about six times faster than income. Since the approval of the project, in cooperation with the Prague Development Company, it has been working on selecting suitable plots of land. Radlická seems to be the first to find the locality, where we have already prepared a study and an idea of what the residential buildings should look like, “stated Marvanová.
On the basis of the now approved plan, all the necessary legal documents were created, including the statutes of the cooperative, the price estimate of the city share or the documents for announcing the competition, so that it could be competed next year by a partner for founding a housing cooperative.
Hana Marvanová did not promote the project without any problems. Last summer, his coalition majority rejected councilors’ votes. Adam Zábranský (Pirates), for example, objected to the possibility that cooperatives would buy city land in the future. He also doubted whether you would actually reach the “middle class” for the apartments from the project, ie families with small children or seniors, as Marvanová claims.
Most could not be resolved. However, one of Zábranský’s older criticisms in the form of “adding” other subjects to the cooperatives remained. “I don’t understand at all why such a complex construction is created, if it would be enough for the city to compete for someone to build an apartment building for them, and the cooperative was founded only with specific cooperatives,” Zábranský pointed out last spring.
According to Marvanová, however, it is necessary not to passively take into account the long-term trend of rising housing prices. “Prague also supports all legislative steps that have helped speed up construction. I believe that the new government will undertake them. However, we see the resumption of more massive construction of cooperative flats, which may be cheaper, as a quick help, “she emphasized.
As another benefit of the project, his “lawyer” mentions the cooperative share of Prague in about a third of the flats built within this system. “This will help reverse the trend of shrinking the city’s housing stock, and professions that will be key to the city’s operation, such as teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc., will benefit. We also work with other city districts, where we are also preparing to set up housing cooperatives. In the preparation phase, we are currently with the city district of Prague 12 and the city districts of Prague 10, Prague 13 and Prague 8 have also shown interest, “she added.