Social housing is on its way
The state plans to put up more than 200,000 square meters of land it owns in Attica and another 400,000 sq.m. in other parts of the country land it owns to tenders for the development of social housing in the next two years, with the participation of private capital. The goal is to provide affordable housing to low-income beneficiaries, either to rent or purchase with low-interest loans.
The initiative for providing much-needed social support will develop in several phases, as 1,600 state assets have been found to be underutilized and these mainly concerning plots. The list is currently being processed so that an initial assessment can be made on the suitability of the properties and whether they can generate commercial interest, based on their location and marketability.
Approximately 100 plots within town planning zones, covering a total area of 627,000 sq.m., are expected to constitute the first batch. Of these, around a third are in Attica and the remainder in various other cities.
The most mature of these assets come to around 10, which will be the first public properties to be tendered by the end of the year. They include plots of land in the Attica suburbs of Maroussi, Kifissia (11,000 sq.m.) and Paeania (20,000 sq.m.). There are also properties in Larissa (40,000 sq.m.), Volos (74,000 sq.m.), Patra, Halkidiki, Serres, Agrinio and Xanthi (28,000 sq.m.). These are cities that either see significant demand from students or are popular tourism destinations (like Halkidiki) and have been experiencing serious shortages of affordable housing for locals and workers.
The aim of the scheme will be the development of 2,500 homes for 5,000 young beneficiaries up to 39 years of age with an annual income of 10,000-16,000 euros if they are single and up to €24,000 euros is they are married.
It will be executed with private funds, through concession contracts. That is, the interested party will undertake to build the new residential complexes (and demolish any existing structures on the plot) and give a percentage of them to the state, so that they can be made available to beneficiaries either for rent or purchase.
