A package of interventions to increase the supply of homes and provide a solution to the housing problem is being launched by the government through social rent, and by placing on the market the stock of homes currently in the hands of Servicers.

These are two moves of immediate priority for the government’s economic staff as they are expected to provide a major respite to the housing problem currently being experienced in major cities across the country, particularly in Athens and Thessaloniki.

A top priority for the Finance Ministry is to seek appropriate arrangements that will allow some 25,000 properties owned by Servicers but which remain unused due to urban planning and other problems to come on the market.

Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis is already in discussions with the banks and Servicers who have submitted their proposals to resolve these issues. In the immediate future and after the decisions are finalized, it is expected that a relevant regulation will be promoted, which will address the current difficulties of disposing of this significant stock of homes in the market.

At a parallel level, the government’s economic staff is speeding up procedures for the implementation of the institution of social consideration through which the construction of housing on public properties that remain unused today will be entrusted to private individuals.

The aim is to run the tender for the first package of 1,000 public sector properties by the end of the year, perhaps earlier after the summer. These are 1,000 of the 6,500 public properties (EDF) that will be made available for use by private individuals based on the institution of social consideration. According to the plan, private individuals will build residential units on these properties, of which 30% will be allocated on the basis of social criteria and the remaining 70% can be sold. It is estimated that about 10,000 houses can be built from the first package of 1,000 properties while a total of 25,000 – 30,000 houses can be built from the development of all the properties of the EBRD in the long run.

For the government, interventions to address the housing problem are a top priority issue. This was also the message of the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister this week at which the new digital platform stegasi was presented.gov.gr on which citizens can find out about all programmes for the acquisition, renovation, repair or upgrading of housing, as well as the subsidies, tax relief or other facilities offered to owners and tenants.

The new digital portal presents for the first time detailed information on 43 actions implemented for housing with a total budget of €6.5 billion. These actions include 21 housing programmes including “My House 1”, “My House 2”, “Renovate – Rent”, energy upgrade possibilities, rent reimbursement as well as 11 tax regulations concerning the reduction of ENFIA, the tax exemption for long-term leases together with the restrictions for short-term leases. Every citizen can use the platform to calculate the benefit of using each scheme and start the application process.