Opava will expand its offer of cheap apartments for seniors, major renovations

Opava - The Opava City Hall will expand its offer of affordable apartments for seniors. Large and expensive apartments will be converted into smaller, and thus cheaper ones. This will require an investment of around 1.5 million crowns. Four apartments will be added in this way. The City Hall also expanded its offer by four apartments in this manner last year. Lada Dobrovolná, a spokeswoman for the City of Opava, stated this to ČTK.
The apartments are operated by the Senior Center (SC), which is a contributory organization of the city and provides accommodation for 166 seniors. "Our clients are more interested in smaller and mainly cheaper housing. Therefore, we decided to divide the large apartments into two smaller ones," said SC director Radim Křupala to ČTK.
In total, there will be eight residential units with two rooms and a kitchenette. After renovations, 16 one-room apartments with a kitchenette will be created from them. The first four apartments were adapted in this way last year. This year, the next four are up for renovation.
However, even with these changes, the demand for senior housing remains unmet. "The current capacity of our center is insufficient. We maintain a waiting list, which constantly has 300 applicants. Each year, we can only provide accommodation for 12 of them," Křupala told ČTK earlier.
Therefore, the city plans to build a new facility. It should be established on greenfield land, and the City Hall is currently looking for a suitable architectural design. The new retirement home will be built in the Kateřinky district and should be managed by the SC. In the near future, another similar facility should be established in the city, this time for wealthier clients. A private investor wants to set up a retirement home in the premises of an abandoned maternity hospital.