
The Ministry of Finance and Economy has opened the application procedures for social housing programs, which will be financed from the state budget in 2024-2025.
The procedures define the types of projects that will be partially or fully financed from the state budget, the conditions that municipalities must meet to qualify, as well as the application format and documentation.
In the 2024 budget, a fund of 320 million ALL is provided for the financing of new projects that will be opened.
There are three types of programs according to which the projects to be financed are categorized:
Social housing for rent;
Improving housing conditions for poor and disadvantaged communities; and
Temporary shelters.
More specifically, the Social Housing for Rent program envisages financeable projects that can be provided through:
Adaptation of existing facilities that are owned by the local self-government unit;
Purchase from the market, when the purchase price of housing in the market is lower than the construction cost;
New construction on land owned by the local self-government unit.
In the program Improving housing conditions for poor and disadvantaged communities, the financing of projects is foreseen for:
Improving the infrastructure mainly in informal areas where more than 50 families live (mainly in areas inhabited by the Roma minority), which are in the process of legalization;
Improving the infrastructure in residential areas with a lack of services such as water supply, sewerage, or where these services are inadequate; and
Improving the conditions of existing housing for families.
As for the projects related to the improvement of the existing housing conditions, per family, they will focus on individuals or families with no income, from the Roma and Egyptian minority, families consisting of persons with disabilities, families consisting of elderly people over 65 years of age who live alone, families with more than four children, mother girls, women victims of violence, women heads of households, where dependent children are under 18 years of age, etc.
The temporary shelter program foresees the financing of projects related to the purchase and assembly of containers, tents, etc., as well as the adaptation of an existing building for housing.
The opening of the procedures for social housing programs for the needy categories comes just a few days after the Government, with the changes in the 2023 budget, granted social bonuses to the vulnerable groups, part of the solidarity package for the end of the year holidays.