Czech Govt approves bill on housing support, experts call it a crucial milestone in addressing housing precarity
The Czech Government has approved a bill on housing support that is meant to create systemic support for persons who are at risk of housing precarity. There are as many as 1.6 million such people in the Czech Republic, a country of 10.7 million.
According to the Czech Ministry for Regional Development (MMR), the law targets families with minor children and senior citizens first and foremost, as those groups are most at risk of losing their regular housing, according to a press release. The Government also approved an amendment drafted by Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blažek (Civic Democratic Party – ODS) that would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants who cause trouble.
One of the main aims of the law, according to the MMR, is to gradually reduce the number of people who are in acute housing precarity from the current number of 154,000. Two-thirds of those are families with minor children.
“The housing support law targets aid to families and individuals who are, as a consequence of the impacts of the many crises our country has undergone in recent years, having to address problems with finding or maintaining their housing more and more frequently,” said Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka (Christian Democratic Party – KDU-ČSL). The Government believes that the law will also generate savings for the costs connected with the crisis in housing.
Annually, according to the cabinet, more than CZK 4 billion [EUR 162.2 million] is spent from public budgets on such costs. The bill would create contact points in what are called “municipalities of expanded scope” to provide counseling services aimed at preventing housing loss.
A voluntary guarantee system for private owners of rental housing and financial contributions to municipalities renting to homeless persons is meant to be created, as will be aid with housing to make sure the households being supported can maintain their housing while also minimizing any risk to their neighbors or the owners. According to Jurečka, the law will introduce mechanisms which should lead to limiting both the number of children residing in temporary shelters and the number of senior citizens in residential hotels.
The Labor and Social Affairs minister also believes the bill will aid children aging out of institutional care or people living with disabilities with finding housing for themselves. “These are all groups which, in the best-case scenario, are ending up today in facilities that cost us many times more than what it would cost to support them with finding and occupying their own housing. In the worst-case scenario, such people end up on the street, where their health care and the emergency responses to them eventually end up costing the state much more,” Jurečka said.
When discussing the law, the Government also approved an amendment which, according to Blažek, will make it easier for landlords to evict tenants who cause trouble through what is being called an evacuation order. The aim of the amendment is to shorten such proceedings before the courts and to simplify them.
Czech Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš (Pirates) stressed that the bill was drafted in collaboration with representatives of local authorities and the nonprofit sector. “This housing support legislation is about a long-term, systemic transformation, it doesn’t make sense to plan to achieve it within just one term in office. That’s why it was important to us to find common ground and get the widest possible support for it from various partners,” he said.
Experts: This is a crucial milestone in addressing housing precarity
The Za bydlení (For Housing) initiative, which brings together academics, non-governmental, non-profit organizations, and representatives of local authorities, expressed its appreciation for the fact that the adoption process for this law has been set in motion. “We perceive this to be a crucial milestone in addressing housing precarity,” commented Mikoláš Opletal, the spokesperson for the initiative.
“We have been impatiently waiting for this law for many years and more than 150,000 people in housing precarity who currently do not have enough backup in the Czech legal system need it,” a press release sent to news server Romea.cz by the initiative states. After the Government postponed discussion of the law indefinitely a month ago, the initiative sent a call to the chairs of the governing parties warning them against delaying the discussion and urging them to adopt the bill as soon as possible.
That call was supported by more than 1,000 people, including the Bishop of Plzeň, Tomáš Holub; the chair of the Czech Chamber of Architects, Jan Kasl; and the co-founder of Architects without Borders, Karolína Kripnerová. “The number of people in housing precarity is constantly growing. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the unaffordability of housing has further intensified. I think it is appropriate to use the term housing crisis so that the Government starts to finally address the situation as quickly as possible and effectively,” Kripnerová said.
According to the head of the People in Need organization’s social services department, Kateřina Dosoudilová, the bill is well-written, and she hopes Parliament will quickly adopt it. “It’s good the Government has supported the bill. We hope the negotiations in the Chamber of Deputies will go smoothly and that the law can be adopted such that it will take effect before the end of this legislative session,” she said.
“We perceive the wording of this law to have been well-drafted and it has been widely discussed, so from our perspective there’s no reason to wait,” Dosoudilová said. The bill on housing support is part of the reforms called “Housing for Life” which are being pushed through by the MMR, the aim of which is to ensure the necessary investment into building and reconstructing affordable rental apartment units.
