Every citizen has a right to housing
Statement by the Head of AKEL Social Policy Evanthia Savva
7 March 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
The right of every citizen to have dignified and humane housing conditions is one of the basic rights guaranteed by international conventions and the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus.
However, access to affordable adequate housing is not self-evident for everyone. It is the responsibility of respective governments to create the conditions that will ensure the right to dignified housing for the whole of society.
In Cyprus today, ensuring affordable and dignified housing, especially for vulnerable groups of the population, young couples, students, the low and middle strata, is becoming increasingly difficult.
The risk of foreclosures, the unsustainable price of rents, the enormous difficulty in obtaining loans for a large section of the population, the huge increases in the property sector, the energy crisis, the gaps and shortcomings in housing schemes, all reflect the difficult reality.
For AKEL, dignified housing is a universal right, which must be guaranteed through a comprehensive and socially oriented housing policy by submitting proposals.
AKEL proposes, among other things, the following
- The establishment of a Central Housing Policy Body to address issues regarding coordination, formulation of policies, targeting of priorities, and evaluation of housing schemes.
- The broadening of socio-economic criteria in government programmes in order to cover a larger section of society.
- Adjustment of the amount of grants to reflect the current situation.
- The expansion of the custom of social housing, with an emphasis on the construction of housing schemes by the state and local authorities, which should be provided with low rents or hire purchase on the basis of socio-economic criteria.
- Tax relief for the construction of first homes for young couples.
- The implementation of a rent subsidy scheme based on socio-economic criteria.
We need a comprehensive, socially-oriented housing policy so that every citizen of this country can have dignified quality and affordable housing. AKEL will not stop struggling in this direction. We expect the new government to make the housing issue a priority.
