The Ministry of the Interior is promoting the construction of new apartment buildings in government refugee settlements, but the resulting apartments will not be securitized, as has been the case for decades, but will be made available to refugee families with affordable rent.
Based on other government plans that exist, the rent is likely to be 70% of the market rent, i.e. the rent that applies in each area where there are refugee settlements.
A relevant announcement was made before the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Konstantinos Ioannou, at an acquaintance meeting with the new members of the Committee, who in total (old and new, amount to 17).
However, the minister did not specify exactly what "affordable rent" means.
Mr. Ioannou stated that the process is at a preliminary stage but nevertheless some check was carried out for possible available spaces.
As he said, there are spaces but some are reserved either as green spaces or for other uses. Of course, there are other spaces that are not reserved and these will be in "first demand".
As the minister said, a relevant request had been made by members of the Refugee Committee and the ministry responded by exploring the possibility of implementing a housing plan given the housing problem faced by citizens and especially young couples.
He also said that the possibility of building apartment buildings for other citizens in addition to the refugees could also be considered, although as he noted, the interest of the refugees will probably cover the apartments that will result from the construction of new apartment buildings.
