Prague’s city districts may lose their autonomy as part of privatization
The proposed price of 16 and a quarter million crowns, based on an expert opinion, seems “undersized” at first glance, knowing that buyers have previously paid a total of eight million crowns as “first rent”. The managing councilor Tomáš Slabihoudek (TOP 09) first successfully submitted the sales plan to the council, but subsequently withdrew from the meeting of representatives. The city district justified the decision after several days.
PICTURE: The Sokolovs donated blood in Tyrš’s house, breaking the record this year
“The building is one of the list of houses designed for sale, which was approved by the Municipal Office in Prague 8 as early as 2019. The entire sale process went the standard way. The current sale price is based on an expert report from December 2021. However, due to the duty of care of a proper manager, the town hall will still have an audit report prepared, so it was withdrawn from the program of the last ZMČ, “said Martin Šalek, Prague 8 spokesman.
The current municipal coalition, with a political declaration, undertook not to offer city flats for sale and to gradually expand the now small housing stock. City districts more or less share this approach, although in theory nothing forces them to do so. “The privatization of flats in Prague 4 ended several years ago. Now only individual flats are submitted, for example in apartment buildings that were privatized in the past and remained in them, resp. usually one or two flats in the administration of the city district, the administration is economically disadvantageous for the city district, “said Deputy Mayor for Culture and Property Michal Hroza (TOP09), according to which the sale is always ensured in accordance with the Principles of Sale of Vacant (Unleased) housing units in houses included in the past for privatization, approved by the local council 11 years ago. In recent years, Prague 4 has sold up to ten flats a year (for example, two last year) and its housing stock, with approximately 19 hundred units, has “shrunk” by 23 in four years.
From the beginning of this election period, the town hall coalition in Prague 2 (ODS, TOP 09, YES, Citizens for Satisfied Housing) has also called for an end to privatization “with a few exceptions”. “Only those sales agreed with the previous council were completed, and individual vacant housing units were sold at the market price (in the form of a public auction) in houses in SVJ,” said Prague 2 spokeswoman Andrea Zoulová. Among the new priorities of the local housing policy is, among other things, the offer of municipal flats for rent for paramedics and employees of the General University Hospital. “The city district also regularly offers the rental of its apartments through public auctions, both natural and, more recently, electronic,” added Zoulová.
PICTURE: Water tower and factories. Technical buildings are being transformed into flats in Prague
On the other hand, the policy of “zero sales” is being coined by Prague 7 (Prague 7 itself, Pirates and the Greens), which has expanded its housing stock by 11 units in the last two years. “In the past, extensive privatization took place in Prague 7, within which the city district lost most of its housing stock. Prague 7 currently has a total of 653 flats in its property management, which we consider to be the absolute basis for us to be a fully functional housing and social policy from the position of the city district, “said Deputy Mayor Kamil Vavřinec Mareš (Prague 7 himself). flats is included in the system of supported housing, which includes social flats with care services or asylum housing. “At the same time, we are trying to further expand our housing stock, both through gradual repairs and the occupation of long-term uninhabitable flats, which we inherited from our predecessors, ie, for example, attic installations. We are currently preparing the construction of a new house in Za Papírnou Street, where there will be 66 small flats available, ”Mareš emphasized. According to the town hall, Prague 1 is preparing to repair 260 flats, which it then wants to include “preferred professions”.
According to the current rules set out in the Statute of the Capital City, city districts can simply have all “larger” privatizations approved by the municipality (over 50 million crowns in the case of large parts, over 5 million in the case of small ones). According to Councilor Jan Chabr (TOP 09), an amendment to the statute is “at stake”, which would introduce this obligation for all privatization transactions and at the same time condition the use of the profits in question again in the area of housing. “Enforcement follows certain obstacles in the form of a new administrative burden and the expected resistance from both the city districts themselves and some clubs in the council,” Chabr explained.