A year ago, presenting our revised housing policy, we stated that our plans had specific goals and objectives, which were mainly focused on supporting the countryside, young people, revitalizing our peripheral areas and tackling urban poverty.
We also undertook that this policy would be reviewed at the end of last year in order to evaluate all the parameters and to take into account the positions and suggestions of the stakeholders and the citizens themselves, so that the re-launch of the projects would make them even more attractive and beneficial.
Today I am pleased to inform you that our commitments have been fully met. The plans announced today are perfectly adapted to the needs, wishes and suggestions of the citizens themselves, but more importantly, as you will hear straight away, there have been many extremely substantial changes, all in favour of the beneficiaries.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Despite the peculiar circumstances created by the pandemic, the Government and the Ministry of Interior, adopting the instructions of the President of the Republic himself, and in absolute agreement with other government policies, not only did not suspend any development activity, but on the contrary, we chose the successful formula of the past. And in housing policy, we are investing in growth, tripling spending for 2022 with the certainty that the benefits will be manifold.
The new plans, as I said before, are enriched with a large number of improvement provisions so that there is the certainty that in so far 573 subsidised applicants approved with a total assistance of 20.1 million euros, in this year these will multiply.
As you are well aware, the projects cover marginal, mountainous and disadvantaged areas. Our evaluation showed that the response in the peripheral areas was overwhelmingly superior to that in the mountain areas. The emphasis on improvement was therefore placed on the mountain and less-favoured areas, with particular reference to the plan for the Outermost Regions and Outermost Small and Remote Areas, which attracted our particular attention.
Based on this rationale, the new criteria have been differentiated in order to make the plans for mountainous, less favoured and outermost mountain areas even more attractive and, as mentioned above, the appropriations for 2022, compared to the EUR 5 million for the period 2000-2006, have been increased to EUR 5 million. 5 million allocated in 2021, these have been increased to 15 million, which shows the government's willingness to support these regions in practice.
Housing Plans
1) Housing Plan for the Revitalization of Mountainous, Arid and Disadvantaged Areas
- In the Plan for the Revitalization of Mountainous, Arid and Disadvantaged Areas, for the outlying areas, there was no change in the eligibility criteria because, as I mentioned, the response to the previous plan was extremely high, which demonstrates the validity of the existing criteria. The only improvements made relate to the addition of seven additional roads in the Municipality of Nicosia, the inclusion of the entire H1, H2 and H3 zones in the Municipality of Pyla, and a specific area north of the Kolokasidis roundabout in Agios Dometios.
- With regard to the Mountainous and Less Favoured Areas, listening, among other things, to the suggestions forwarded to us, we have proceeded with a number of improvement provisions which consist of the following :
A. We have modified the method of calculating the altitude of each municipality so that the maximum altitude of the residential area is taken into account, instead of the altitude of the centre of the residential area.
B. We included a new criterion for inclusion in the plan of communities/areas with a population equal to or less than 50 inhabitants, regardless of distance and regardless of altitude, in order to help these particularly small communities while,
C. We varied the combination of the population criterion with the distance from the urban centre in order to increase the number of eligible communities. With this change, communities with a population equal to or less than 500 inhabitants located only 25 km from the urban centre are now eligible, compared to 30 km under the previous plan.
As a result of these improvements, the revised Mountain, Scenic and Disadvantaged Area Revitalization Plan is extended to 19 additional communities/areas, now covering a total of 277 communities, municipalities and districts, instead of the 258 covered by the previous plan with a total population in excess of 82.000 inhabitants.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I mentioned in my introduction, our interest was particularly focused on the so-called extremely mountainous and extremely small and remote communities and areas.
In order to give additional help to this category, we took the following improvement actions:
A. In communities located at a distance of 70 km or more from the nearest urban centre, we differentiated the weighting of the criteria for inclusion in the category. More specifically :
- The weight for altitude was reduced from 50% to 40%
- The weight for the population criterion was increased from 25% to 30% and
- the weight for the distance from the urban centre criterion was also increased from 25% to 30%.
B. In addition, the new method of measuring the altitude of the community using the maximum of the residential area rather than the altitude of the centre of the residential area is also applied to this category.
As a result of the change of these two criteria, the inclusion of all the Communities of the outlying Tilliria which was one of our main objectives and a total of 13 additional Communities was achieved, raising the number of communities in this category from 117 to 130, with a total population of 22,434, an increase of 5,586 inhabitants compared to the previous plan.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Over the past year, both I and my colleagues and the President himself on his various visits, have been the recipients of massive requests for an exception to allow housing to be built outside the development boundary.
- By way of exception and only in "Extremely mountainous and extremely small and remote" communities/areas, it was decided to give this opportunity to build a house, either to permanent residents or to those who come from that community and wish to return to it, but do not have a plot within the development zone. A condition for the grant to be awarded for such an option is that [*]the development is the applicant's permanent residence, [*]the applicant and members of his or her immediate family do not have another parcel of land registered in their name suitable for immediate development within the designated residential zone or area of the community in which the development is proposed, [*]the applicant has obtained planning permission and building permission from the relevant authorities at the date of application.
In addition to the above, always for the Communities falling under the category of "Outermost mountainous and outermost small and remote areas",
- The method of calculating the floor area of the dwelling has also been differentiated. While until now the permissible area in this category was the same as in the others, i.e. a maximum of 200 m2 or a maximum of 250 m2 in the case of purchase of a ready-made house, with the new criteria, additional spaces, which arise due to the morphology of the plot and are approved as ancillary spaces of the building, will NOT be counted in the total area.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The fact that we are experiencing a new crisis, the fact that the pandemic has caused a redistribution of wealth and delays, are parameters that have also been taken into account.
The main feature of the new Plan, as shown in the Table, is the further increase by 5,000 to 10,000 euros of the income criteria for the category
"mountain and less-favoured areas"
and by 10,000 for the category of "mountainous and remote" communities/areas, depending on which category each community falls into. In determining the category to which each applicant will be assigned, the composition of the family shall be taken into account. This significant broadening of the income criteria significantly increases the number of potential beneficiaries.
The scheme is also distinguished by significantly increased benefits, particularly for young couples and large families, which make it more attractive.
The ceiling for financial support according to family composition is increased, for the category "mountain and less-favoured areas" by 5.000, with an increase of EUR 15,000 for the category of "mountainous and extremely small and remote" municipalities and regions.
For "mountainous and extremely small and remote" municipalities
, a further significant additional increase is granted. The amount for special constructions due to the morphology of the terrain, is increased from €15,000 in the previous Plan to €25,000, in order to assist beneficiaries where and where special constructions are required for safety and adequate support of the dwelling, such as the construction of retaining walls.
But in addition to the aforementioned special criteria, we have also differentiated a number of incentives and conditions for all the communities included in the Plan.
More specifically,
- All those who acquired a home and filed a purchase and sale deed with the TCX between 1.1.2022 and the start date of the new plan become eligible and applicants.
- In addition, the criterion which did not allow financial assistance to be granted if work beyond the frame and roof slab stage had been carried out if it predated the signing of the agreement was amended. The new criterion establishes the date of application as the permissible calendar point, instead of the date of signature of the agreement, so that applicants are not penalised if there is a delay in the processing of their application by the State authorities.
The same applies if, instead of building, the applicant proceeded to acquire a privately owned dwelling.
- The provision concerning the documentation of the adequacy of the financial resources of the applicants is also differentiated in order to include as co-debtors, in case of borrowing, the parents or parents by marriage of the applicants, instead of only the applicants. In addition, deposits from the parents or parents by marriage of the applicants can now be taken into account, which was not allowed under the previous scheme. This improvement meets a request exclusively from young people who were unable to obtain loans on their own.
- Recognising that the pandemic caused both financial hardship for many households and delays in the ability to complete construction projects, the criterion of the time limit for starting and finishing construction work on a house was changed from six to nine months for the start and from two to three years for the completion of the project.
2) Housing Revitalization Plan for Specific Rural Areas
The second plan concerns the so-called Specific Rural Areas. This Plan until recently included a total of 128 rural communities that were NOT included in the previous Plan. With this second Plan, all Communities nationwide are covered by our housing plans.
With the changes in the criteria mentioned above, 19 of the 128 Communities with a total population of 2,697 inhabitants of this Plan, i.e. the Rural Specific Areas Plan, have been upgraded to the first Plan, so that the number of Communities in the Plan under discussion has been reduced to 109.
And for this Plan, all the improvements mentioned above for the previous Plan apply, namely the date of acquisition of the dwelling, the differentiation for the stage of carrying out construction work or the date of acquisition in the case of purchase of a ready-made dwelling, the differentiation of the provision concerning the documentation of the sufficiency of financial resources, and the extension of the margin for the start and end of construction work on the construction of a dwelling.
In this Plan, financial support amounts up to €20,000 for families of four or more persons and up to €15,000 for single persons and families of up to three persons.
The closing date for both Schemes is April 4, 2022, with a closing date of December 31 of this year 2022.
Allowances
We have described the Government's housing policy as a holistic approach. This is because, in addition to the two aforementioned Schemes, the Ministry of Interior offers, through a subsidy policy, additional support and financial assistance to residents of mountainous and remote areas, also in the form of an allowance.
In this way, in a complementary and cumulative manner, our rural residents are helped even more decisively, since, among other things, they are provided with an additional incentive to stay in the areas where they choose to acquire or build their own homes.
For the implementation of the subsidy policy plan which will be explained shortly, the appropriations in the Budget have also been increased.
From the €6.5 million budgeted in 2021, the available appropriations for this year 2022 amount to €7.5 million.
1) Financial Assistance Scheme in Support Frameworks for Residents of Mountain Communities with an altitude of more than 600 metres
The first subsidy scheme concerns residents of mountain communities with an altitude of more than 600 metres
It is acknowledged that the residents of these communities deserve our special attention. Particularly this year, due to the increase in fuel prices, but also due to the difficult weather conditions that prevailed in January, the Council of Ministers, with its decision of 26.1.2022, approved the granting of a one-off emergency allowance, equal to 50% of the amount granted to the recipients of this allowance for 2021.
This policy benefited 19,000 beneficiaries, or 8,000 households, in 110 communities in our mountainous areas, with additional amounts of €2.1 million and a total expenditure for 2022 of €6.5 million
- The Plan continues to maintain as a basic criterion the altitude of 600 metres or more.
- However, due to a change in the methodology for calculating the altitude of communities, based on the maximum altitude of the residential zones of the community, instead of the altitude of the centre of the residential area, which was the case until last year, nine more communities/areas with a population of 1 are additionally included.880 inhabitants approximately (and these are Agios Georgios Limassol, Trimyklini, Pittokopos, Korfi, Ora, Kritou Tera, Lysos, Kapedes and Kelkokira).
- In addition, 37 more communities are upgraded to a category with a higher subsidy amount per household.
As a result, the Scheme now covers, a total of 119 communities, with a population of 25,500.
2) Financial Assistance Scheme in the Support Frameworks for Residents of Remote Areas
The second and final subsidy scheme adopts an additional resident-friendly geographical eligibility criterion, enabling additional communities to be included in the Scheme compared to what was previously the case.
More specifically, it allows the inclusion of communities located at an altitude of 700 metres or more and which are at the same time located at a distance of between 30-39 km from the nearest urban centre. In this way, the inclusion in the Plan of 24 additional communities/areas has been achieved, bringing the total number of beneficiary communities from 106 to 130 with a total population of 27,000 inhabitants. (Slide 28)
Wanting to support working persons, who are essentially the ones who need support for their multiple commutes to and from work, we diversified another incentive in their favour.
From now on, every non-pensioner adult working person included in the household is granted the allowance without any income criterion, as opposed to what was previously the case when the allowance was a function of the income criteria of the family to which the beneficiary belonged. However, the distance from the nearest urban centre is taken into account, resulting in 3 categories of allowances :
For those living at a distance of 40-59 km or at a distance of 30-39 km and at an altitude of more than 700 metres, the annual allowance for each family member has been set at 300 euros.
For those living at a distance of 60-79 km the annual allowance for each family member was set at EUR 500.
For those living at a distance of 80 km or more, the annual allowance for each family member was set at EUR 600.
For both of the above-mentioned allowance schemes the submission of applications was set from 4 April to 30 April 2022 and payment will be made within the last quarter of the year.
Land Allocation Scheme for low-income families
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In 2013, amidst the economic crisis and as a result of the evaluation of the then housing schemes, the Government terminated the Land Allocation Scheme for low-income families.
Today 9 years later and despite the termination of this Plan, the finding is that there are unallocated allotments. Approaching the issue from the current perspective of holistic intervention in the housing sector, the government has decided to give the opportunity to dispose, of the unallocated plots. Wanting to give the opportunity to as many people as possible to claim the acquisition of such a plot, we decided to expand the income criteria of the abolished Plan for the disposal of plots to low-income families, so that they are in line with the current increased income criteria applicable to the Housing Plans of the Shire and Countryside Areas and the Plans for Displaced Persons.
In this way we provide an additional opportunity to benefit a greater number of eligible persons and to make the already segregated plots available to families in need of support.
Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The detailed report on the plans and the presentation to follow by my friend Commissioner for Mountainous Areas, Costas Commissioner Costas Hambiaouris, demonstrate the Government's approach to addressing the housing problem faced by a number of our fellow citizens.
But it also shows the social face of the Government of President Anastasiades as despite the difficult economic situation due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine that affected the entire global economy, we chose to support with generous and expanded plans the home ownership in the countryside, especially for young couples.
The great response last year, the significant improvements, the widening of the pool of beneficiaries, the maximization of eligible areas and the increase in financial incentives makes us confident that the new Plans will be warmly embraced by our compatriots.
The formulation of these complex Plans did not happen at the push of a button. It took many people who had to travel across the country to listen to people and form their own opinions about each region. So let me thank the team of the Ministry of Interior who, under the guidance of the Director General and Patrina Taramidou, shaped these Plans. I also thank Elena Patsalou and Ioanna Nikiforou, the Commissioner for Mountainous Areas Kostas Kostas Hambiaouris, my friend Andreas Kitromilidis, President of the Union of Communities, and all our Prefects who will undertake the implementation of the Plans from tomorrow. We thank both my predecessor Minister of Interior and current Minister of Finance, Constantinos Petrides, and especially Mrs Anthoula Savvidou, the current Head of the Directorate of the Ministry of Development, who laid the foundations for structuring the current Plans.
Finally, I would like to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic of Cyprus for his insistence to establish generous plans for the support of the Cypriot countryside.
Finally, I would like to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic of Cyprus for his insistence to establish generous plans for the support of the Cypriot countryside.
Thank you all for your presence here.
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Note: For the presentation of the revised Housing Plans and Allowances click here.
(EFYs/NG/IK)
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