The framework of the Social Housing Strategy, "My home!"
The framework of the Social Housing Strategy, "My home!"
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The framework of the Social Housing Strategy, "My home!"

The program comprises 7 actions and aims to make more properties available at affordable, better prices for both rent and purchase.
RE+D magazine
15.09.2022

The framework of the Social Housing Strategy, under the name "My home!" -following the Prime Minister's announcements from the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki- was presented by the Minister of State Akis Skertsos, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakis, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Kostas Skrekas, of Education and Religious Affairs, Niki Kerameos, and the commander of Public Employment Service, Spyros Protopsaltis.

The program comprises 7 actions and aims to make more properties available at affordable, better prices for both rent and purchase.

Schemes to beggin in 2022

The student allowance increases immediately to €1,500 from €1,000, which, apart from the fact that it will also apply to DIEK students, will be paid this fall retroactively additionally for 2021-22. The allowance increases to €2,000 in all cases of cohabitation.

Special arrangements apply to students at the three Akritian Universities, Aegean, Western Macedonia and Demokritio Thrace, as the criteria for beneficiaries are expanded from €30,000 to €40,000 family income.

Regarding the student residences in five regions of the country, Thrace, Western Macedonia, Thessaly, Western Attica, Crete, more than 8,150 beds will be created through PPP, at a cost of over €540 million. The start of their construction is planned for 2023 and their completion in 2027.

It should be noted that the above projects have been approved by the inter-ministerial since the beginning of 2020, while the student residences in Crete since May 2019 and the tender procedures are ongoing.

Low interest mortgages will be available to propsective borrowers in the 1Q2023

The measure is about securing housing loans, which will cover up to 90% of the commercial value of the property, with a maximum limit of 150,000 euros, for the purchase of a primary residence. The program will concern the purchase of apartments up to 120 sq.m. and year of manufacture up to 2007.

The beneficiaries of the favorable housing loans will be 10,000 young people or young couples aged 25 to 39, with an annual net income of 10,000 euros (corresponding to a salary of €715 net per month) up to the limit provided for the payment of the heating allowance.

The action's budget is 500 million euros (375 million euros from the DYPA reserve and 125 million euros from the banks). In the case of exhaustion of resources, the amount of loans granted is to be doubled.

The installment that the borrower will pay for a house worth 100,000 euros is 275 euros.

In order for the action to help families with three and many children and contribute to addressing the country's demographic problem, there is a special condition in which:

a) when the applicant is a young couple (25-39) years old with three or more children on the date of submission or

b) when the applicant is young or a young couple, who, during the repayment of the loan (e.g. 30 years), have three children, then the 1% interest rate will be covered by DYPA resources and the housing loans will be granted interest free.

Social compensation: Utilization of properties of DYPA and the General Secretariat of Social Solidarity and Combating Poverty

It was also established a social compensation scheme with the aim to utilise the real estate stock of the former OEK. Following a tender, DYPA properties (which is the successor to OEK) and the State as a whole, inside and outside urban centers, will be granted to technical companies, which undertake to construct modern buildings at their own expense and based on DYPA technical specifications residence. Half of the apartments that will be built will be available on behalf of the State, with low rents for young people up to 39 years of age, based on financial criteria, with a special quota for those with three children and those with many children. The remaining half of the properties will be used commercially.

The action aims to build 2,500 houses, which will house 5,000 beneficiaries. The selection of plots will begin this year, while the tender for the selection of contractors is scheduled for mid-2023. This will be followed by the construction of the houses, the invitation and the selection of the beneficiaries.

This is the model of cheap housing used successfully by other European countries, such as Austria, the Netherlands and Spain.