Amendments to housing support law threaten its functionality, experts say, Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs says the law must also respond to ethnic discrimination

Civil society representatives of the Czech Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs are also criticizing the amendments. According to Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková, Romani people have long faced discrimination in the Czech housing market, and if the law does not reflect reality, it will not help those who need it most.

The lawmakers who submitted the amendments argue that the aid reduction is necessary. According to them, it is not possible to assist everybody who wants help in the current situation because there are not enough apartment units available.

Those sponsoring the amendments are also concerned about the inefficient use of funds for aid to socially vulnerable families. The bill envisages creating contact points to assist people in need of housing, mainly in localities where there is a higher number of people at risk of losing their housing and where there are Labor Offices.

If the bill passes, contact points will be established in municipalities with extended jurisdiction. According to the Government’s bill, a voluntary system of guarantees to private apartment owners, called “housing with a guarantee”, and financial contributions for municipalities which rent their own apartments to people in need of housing will be created.

The bill envisages housing aid as assisting supported households with maintaining their housing and minimizing risks to neighbors and owners. The amendments proposed to it, according to the “For Housing” initiative, would create several problematic measures.

One measure would set the income ceiling for families and individuals to receive housing aid at 1.43 times the subsistence minimum, which “For Housing” says is too strict and would prevent a significant part of the population at risk of housing loss from taking advantage of the assistance. Another problematic proposed measure is to shorten such help with housing from three to two years.

“For Housing” says two years is insufficient for people who may need longer-term support. The third problem, in its view, would be the involvement of Labour Offices with the process of assessing housing support measures, which would add further bureaucracy and delay the effectiveness of a key element of the law by at least another six months.

Romani minority representatives warn of discrimination in access to housing

In the Czech Republic, Romani people have long faced unequal access to the housing market, a fact that experts say needs to be taken into account by this bill. Civil society representatives of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs are therefore appealing for the law to reflect the reality faced not just by Roma, but also by other vulnerable groups.

“Romani people face a high level of discrimination in the housing market, which is why they should be among the particularly vulnerable groups. Together with the Committee on Employment, Health and Social Affairs, we have been warning from the beginning that it is necessary to reflect this fact in the law,” said Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková.

Alena Gronzíková, a civil society member of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs and chair of the aforementioned committee, holds a similar position. According to her, it is crucial that the law truly helps those in need of housing.

“We are not indifferent to the fate of anybody from groups which are vulnerable. We believe that the law will be adopted in a form that will truly help these people,” Gronzíková said.

The Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs has recommended that the Ministry of Regional Development (MMR) and the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry (MPSV) include those who face discrimination in the housing market on the basis of their ethnic origin on the list of “particularly vulnerable persons”. The Council has also approved its own participation in the preparation of a methodology that should prevent obstacles to proving such discrimination.

Fewer recipients, more effective aid? Housing support bill sparks disputes

Among the supporters of stricter rules is, for example, lawmaker Jiří Havránek (Civic Democratic Party – ODS), who argues that there is a limited capacity of affordable housing in the country. He previously told Hospodářské noviny that it is impossible to satisfy everybody through this bill due to the lack of apartment units being offered to those applying for aid.

According to Havránek, there will be 2,000 – 3,000 such apartments available, while there are hundreds of thousands of people in need of housing. “I consider it a mistake to raise people’s expectations – on the contrary, I see this narrowing as correct. This way we can aid those who are in the very worst situations,” said Havránek.

Silvia Doušová (“Mayors and Independents” – STAN) told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) that it was at the last minute that the MPSV proposed the significant narrowing of the target group and shortening aid to two years. However, Doušová herself does not want the circle of interested parties to be narrowed and would like the assistance to last three years.

Although Doušová’s own amendment also includes the narrowing of beneficiaries, she said it is an “emergency” option, whereby if the MPSV’s amendment were to pass, then at least the three-year duration of the aid would be maintained. These amendments also contravene the spirit of the law, according to former Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš (Pirates), who worked on the drafting of the bill before his dismissal.

“I will appeal for the bill to be approved in its original form, which will really help the people and not just developers, as the current bill promoted by the Government does,” Bartoš wrote on the X network. Martin Lux, a socio-economist at the Academy of Sciences and an expert on housing issues, told ČTK that greater income targeting makes sense, but according to him, it is not possible to create demands which cannot be satisfied within a few years.

If the target group were to be too narrow, Lux believes it could have negative consequences. However, the final effect can only be determined through a detailed analysis of the data.

Lux said he does not know whether the proponents of the amendments have carried out such an analysis.