The House will probably approve the increase in housing benefits due to more expensive energy
Updates: 11.01.2022 11:02
Released: 11.01.2022, 10:56
Prague – The Chamber of Deputies will probably approve the government’s proposal to increase the housing allowance and expand its circle of beneficiaries due to higher energy prices. The adoption of the amendment today was recommended to the plenary by the votes of all present members of the Social Committee. The draft also empowers the government to decide, if necessary, to increase the benefit if electricity and gas prices continue to rise.
The Chamber of Deputies should discuss the amendment expeditiously in the afternoon in a state of legislative emergency. The Social Committee recommended that Members approve the draft tonight. According to the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL), the legislative process should proceed so that the amendment will be published in the collection by the end of January.
The so-called normative costs, from which the housing allowance is calculated, increase once by about 1,100 to 2,100 crowns, depending on the number of people in the household and the type of housing. Subtenants could now also receive support. According to the Ministry of Labor, about 2.6 billion to three billion crowns would be added for higher benefits for more people this year.
The owner of an apartment or permanently registered tenants are entitled to a housing allowance, for whom 35 percent of income in Prague and 30 percent elsewhere are not enough to pay for adequate housing. The benefit corresponds to the difference between the expenses up to the normative costs and 0.3 times or 0.35 times the income. The norm ranges from 5,000 to 12,200 crowns in cooperative and own flats, depending on the number of household members. The rent is from about 5600 CZK to 20.500 crowns, the size of the city also plays a role.
The amendment increases the amount. For people who live alone in rent or sublease, the norm should be raised by another 1120 crowns. In your own or cooperative apartment, it would be about 1,180 crowns. According to the amendment, the norm should be adjusted by 1,130 crowns in the rent, and by 1,219 crowns in the own and cooperative flat. For three people, the amounts for calculating benefits would increase by 1607 and 1733 crowns, for four or more people by 1974 and 2147 crowns.
Subtenants could now also receive support as tenants. The contribution as owners could then be made, for example, by seniors who transferred the apartment to their descendants, but continue to live in it. It concerns living according to the so-called servitude.
The Social Committee recommended that the draft be approved without amendment. Its chairman Vít Kaňkovský (KDU-ČSL) only announced an adjustment according to which people with permanent residence in recreational facilities could also receive the benefit.
Comments on the government’s solution to rising energy prices were acknowledged by MPs YES. For example, Aleš Juchelka pointed to the workload of labor office employees who process applications for benefits. “They are already on the verge of their job opportunities,” he said. The former cabinet of Andrej Babiš (ANO) proposed area aid, among other things in the form of a zero rate of value added tax on electricity and gas supplies. According to Jan Bauer (ODS), however, the now proposed address is better, using the current, according to which robust social system.