EXPECTATIONS OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES (TOWNS AND COMMUNES)

Zdzisław Słabkowicz

Abstract:

In order to define precisely local communities’ expectations connected to coming into force of the Polish law on forms of support of the housing (Polish Official Journal no 133, pos. 654, from 27.11.1995), it is necessary to mention some figures which show conditions of housing resources. In Poland, we can only focus on the resources belonging to towns or managed by towns or their agencies. We have more than 11 million flats, more than 7 M in towns. In towns, more than 2 M belong to the municipalities, more than 1,5 M belong to institutions and 1,1 M flats are private.

We estimate that 1 M flats are in bad technical conditions and require immediately renovation works. More then 0,3 M flats should be pulled down.

It is therefore evident that costs of renovation works are very high because of a bad technical state of resources.

So it is obvious to professionally work out which housing resources are worth to be renovated and kept in good conditions, which ones deserve a demolition and if it is better to build new ones.

The town responsible for paying housing allowances plays here an important part.

In 1992 municipal authorities covered 4,6 billions zlotys of exploitation and renovation costs. We estimate that needs in this matter are three times as high. Then it is obvious that the towns look for solutions which will allow to relieve their budgets of such expenditures, particularly in case they are proprietors or administrators of those housing resources. The towns look, among other things, for new technologies of houses construction which are cheaper from exploitation point of view in order to eliminate flats in a bad technical state and flats requiring big outlays covered in consequence by their tenants or by housing allowances paid by towns to tenants.

Local communities expect that the social housing notion means flats with moderate rents for all those families which cannot afford to buy or build flats. I hope that the essential objectives of the construction of flats with moderate rents  are following:

• families with low incomes could have access to flats;
• best utilisation of small financial resources which are at the disposal of the State or of local communities;
• possibility of migration of families in search of job and better life conditions;
• impact on a decrease in social frustrations caused by a shortage of flats.

The local communities could accept a new formula of the social housing giving a chance of optimal use of public funds being at the disposal of local communities or of the National Housing Fund, in the whole process of the implementation, i.e. in financing and constructing houses and next in their management. The local communities expect since that their control over funds let them keep moderate rents in order to increase families’ access to them.

The local communities expect that social housing will constraint the housing building contractors (as well as constructors of the necessary infrastructure) to build good quality houses which are cheap from the exploitation point of view. According to local communities this will be of great importance for rates of rents and other expenditures covered by the flats tenants.

Local communities hope that the formula of social housing is a philosophy of housing resources management which consists among others of a care of the housing resources as well as of their tenants taken by proprietors. For example despite of legal regulations enabling a cancellation of the rent contract, the financial difficulties of the tenant not noticed on time will get in trouble not only the tenant but also the proprietor. This is a big social problem which will oblige the tenant and the proprietor to look for solutions.