The ministry has backed down, but is limiting housing support for young families

After active criticism both in the public sphere and the position of the leaders of the ring municipalities, the Ministry of Social Security and Labor has partially backed down – it is abandoning its previous position of no longer allocating support for young families to purchase housing in the municipalities around big cities. The previous decision was also relevant for the Klaipėda district, which is also classified as a ring municipality.
Offers to buy only on the “edges”
Last week, the version submitted by the Ministry to the Social Affairs and Labor Committee of the Seimas envisages that from June, young families will be able to purchase housing with state support in the ring municipalities of three large cities – Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda districts. The value of the housing purchased there should not exceed the average value of the housing in the apartment building of the specific municipality. This proposal was approved by the committee this week, and will now be evaluated by the Budget and Finance Committee, and then considered by the entire Seimas.
In the opinion of the chairperson of the Social Affairs Committee, conservative Paulė Kuzmickienė, it would be possible to buy housing in the districts of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda “only in the outskirts”. “That would be right,” she said. So, it is possible that there will still be restrictions: Gargždai is the center of Klaipėda district, not an “outskirts”, so it is impossible for young families to expect support here when buying a home?
The Ministry of Social Security and Labor predicts that housing with state support could be purchased in two-thirds of the territory of Vilnius district, in Klaipėda district – in about half, and in Kaunas district – in one-third of the territory.
“Ring municipalities are not round enough to be able to decide territorially. If you throw out the ring municipalities, you would not be able to buy a house in Medininkai, Riešė, but you could already in Lentvary. It is wrong. For example, Klaipėda district goes deep into Žemaitija. In half of it you could, in villages and towns you could, but in Gargždai – not”, said Seimas member Linas Kukuraitis.
Young people will no longer be allowed to build their own houses
If the Seimas approves the new procedure for the distribution of support, two queues of those waiting for support will be formed – in one, there will be young families who have already applied for financial incentives, but will not receive them due to a lack of funds, of which there are about a thousand, and in the other – those who will request support according to the new rules.
According to the new procedure, the subsidy would reach 7.5 percent. housing loan amounts (up to 87 thousand euros). This means that the maximum subsidy amount would be 6.5 thousand. euros.
Now the subsidy amounts to 15-30 percent. loans, a family can expect an average of 15 thousand EUR support if she has children.
The maximum value of housing purchased in the future, which did not exist until now, would reach 120 thousand. euros. It is also intended to oblige the families who received the subsidy to declare their place of residence in the purchased apartment for five years.
The ministry also proposes to the Seimas that young families should no longer be allowed to build their own homes, only existing buildings could be purchased. Also, the amount of support would no longer depend on the number of children, as it is now.
64.2 million was allocated from the budget for the period 2018-2022 to support young families to purchase housing in the regions. EUR, last year – 12 million. euros, and this year – 8 million. euros, but all the funds planned for 2024 have already been distributed.

Klaipėda district municipality mayor Bronius MARKAUSKAS expressed his position on his FB account:
– The ambitions of the Ministry of Social Security and Labor to remove young families in circular municipalities from the circle of housing support recipients seem to have failed. Apparently, the ministry received too much criticism and is adjusting its proposal.
I think that the resolution of us and the districts of Alytus, Panevėžys, Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai was also taken into account, in which we not only disagreed with such a proposal of the ministry, but also presented our options on how to improve the already existing procedure so that young families in ring municipalities also receive support for their first home . Today, this issue was also discussed in the Seimas committee.
Our municipalities are growing, especially the Klaipėda district. It is our young families who are the leaders in receiving support, almost a fifth of all support for the purchase of housing goes to the Klaipėda region. This means that we are an attractive area and people want to live here, so the state must take into account that desire.
Therefore, in the opinion of the Seimas Committee, support in ring municipalities must remain, but it is proposed to distribute it according to the value maps of the Register Center.
Generally speaking, funding for young families in ring municipalities will remain, but only in outlying areas. Therefore, those who want to build close to the city, for example in Sendvary, could no longer apply for this support. I understand that this is not very happy news, but we have to make some compromises. Such an option is better than the complete abolition of support in the territory of the entire district. These proposals will still have to be approved by the Seimas.

• According to the data of the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, the majority of beneficiaries in 2018-2022 were in municipalities located near big cities (Klaipėda, Kaunas, Vilnius, Marijampole, Panevėžys, Šiauliai). In these municipalities, the average amount of support is higher (about 15,000 euros) than the national average by 18-32 percent, because real estate near big cities is more expensive.
• The least beneficiaries in 2018-2022 were in municipalities located on the border of the country (Ignalina, Zarasai, Pagėgiai, Druskininkai, Kalvarijos, Visaginas), i.e. away from larger cities. In these municipalities, the average amount of support (about 6,000 euros) is even 50% lower than the national average.

Prepared by Reda MILVYDIENĖ