[PIO] The Minister of Interior met with the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family in Athens

The Minister of Interior Mr. Konstantinos Ioannou paid an official visit to Athens yesterday afternoon, during which he met with the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family, Mrs. Sofia Zacharaki.

The meeting at political level took place in the context of the effort to design and formulate a new integrated housing policy framework, with emphasis on affordable housing, as envisaged in the government programme of the President of the Republic of Cyprus Mr. Nicos Christodoulides.

During the meeting of the two Ministers, which took place at the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family, the Minister of Interior expressed his thanks to Mrs. Zacharaki for the willingness of the Greek Government to discuss and exchange views on housing policy issues.

He informed Ms. Zacharaki that planning is currently underway and proposals from stakeholders and practices of other countries are being evaluated, with the aim of finalizing plans to increase the supply of housing units in the market and to provide them either at affordable rent or by selling them at affordable prices.

Ioannou also pointed out that the Government is looking forward to utilizing the existing housing policy framework and reinforcing it with new plans, with the aim of ensuring the supply of housing to citizens belonging to lower and middle-income groups.

The design of the new housing policy framework, the Interior Minister added, will create synergies through the activation of public and private sector actors in order to make the implementation of the plans more effective and immediate.

The Interior Minister added that the Government aims to formulate a unified strategy for affordable housing, through the use of significant reserves of state and private land.

For her part, Ms. Zacharaki, after welcoming the Interior Minister to Athens, informed him about the existing housing programmes in Greece. Furthermore, she also referred to the programmes that the Greek Government is preparing and that are to be implemented in the near future. Finally, he assured the support of the Greek government in Cyprus' effort to develop a new framework of affordable housing projects.

The meeting of the two Ministers was preceded by a meeting at technical level, where the practical implementation and technical aspects of the Greek government's housing policy programmes were presented.

The Ministry of Interior, both at political and technical level, will continue to maintain contacts with various stakeholders in order to evaluate proposals and suggestions for the state's housing policy.

(EFYs/AF/SX)
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