Fund for Housing will change its name and expand its activities

Prague - The current State Housing Development Fund will be renamed the State Investment Support Fund and will expand its scope to include sustainable development of municipalities, towns, and regions, as well as tourism. This is stipulated by a government amendment that was signed today by President Miloš Zeman. The Castle informed about his signature. The proposal will take effect in the third month after it is published in the collection.

The main current task of the housing fund is to support private and municipal investments in the construction, repair, and modernization of apartments. The amendment will also focus the fund on regional development, spatial planning, tourism, and building regulations. In the future, according to the Ministry for Regional Development, it should also serve as an alternative to European funds.

According to the amendment, the investment fund will gain access to basic state registers. This should reduce the administrative burden for applicants for support. More accurate records should prevent them from accessing state support for the same activity repeatedly. The fund's ability to collect debts should also improve, for example, if the debtor changes their name.

The proposal only modifies the framework for providing support. The conditions for specific programs will still be determined by the cabinet on a case-by-case basis in the form of government regulation.

The renaming of the fund and the associated expenses are estimated by the ministry to cost about 880,000 crowns. The costs include, for example, the exchange of forms, stamps, payment orders, or adjustments to the website.

This year, the housing fund is expected to have expenditures of 3.02 billion crowns. For the previous year, the fund originally had approved expenditures of 2.73 billion crowns, but throughout the year they increased to 3.48 billion crowns.