Prague will make a new contribution to foster parents and residents of the city in need of housing
Prague councilors Milena Johnová (Praha Sobě) and Adam Zábranský (Pirates) and fund director Barbora Komberec Novosadová told journalists today.
According to them, the goal of the newly opened program for foster parents is that more children grow up in foster families and that foster parents have sufficient support for their work. The housing support program aims to ensure that every person living in Prague has the opportunity to find and maintain decent housing.
“Thanks to the social fund, the capital city acquires a social policy regulatory tool that can influence social problems that arise on the city’s territory for the capital’s residents. This tool is very fast and flexible compared to the system of state social benefits or other state assistance, which is often slow, insufficient and unavailable,” said John.
Foster care supports SNFP wants to achieve this by giving surrogate parents who request help money for services not covered by benefits. Foster parents can thus submit applications for contributions for, among other things, their professional development, therapeutic services or leisure activities for entrusted children. Both people who currently have children in their care, as well as temporary foster parents who are not currently taking care of any child, but are ready to take care of them, can apply for support. The condition for providing assistance is that the foster carers provide care in the territory of Prague.
Housing support program focuses on helping people get and keep housing. The application can be submitted by people who have a permanent residence or actual residence in Prague. In order to approve an application for financial support for housing, the applicant must have actually resided in Prague for at least two years. If he wants money to maintain housing, he must live in Prague for at least one year. The fund will contribute, for example, to the payment of a security deposit, the first rent payment or temporary accommodation.
Those who do not have enough money to solve their situation and who were not helped by state support to solve it can apply for help through the SNFP. According to Komberca Novosad, the applicant will receive financial support within 15 days of the online application. He should receive the money within three days of signing the donation contract. According to the director of the fund, the applications accepted by SNFP will be evaluated by experts and people with similar lived experience.
According to representatives of the metropolis, Prague has the largest share of households that spend more than 40 percent of their income on housing. 160,000 people in the metropolis are at risk of losing their homes, and about 4,000 people are estimated to be currently living on the streets. According to John, there is a lack of foster families in the metropolis. About 300 children live in children’s homes, infant institutions or Klokánek facilities.