The City of Prague will provide a donation of CZK 10 million to the Social and Endowment Fund of the Capital City of Prague. The donation agreement was approved by the Prague City Assembly on Thursday. The fund will use the money to support housing in Prague.

Specifically, the money will go to the Housing Support Program and its two sub-programs, Get a Home and Keep a Home. “I am very pleased that members of both the City Council and the City Assembly have supported the Housing Support Program, which has helped hundreds of families and individuals to find or keep their homes in Prague. In the Get a Home sub-program, we help manage the initial expenses associated with renting an apartment, the amount of which is often an obstacle to finding housing. In the Not to Lose Home sub-program, we help tenants cover their housing costs and maintain decent housing. From the first evaluation of the program, we know that 85 percent of the applicants we supported in finding housing or averting the loss of housing are still living in the same place six months later. This is good news and a great motivation for us. Nevertheless, we are always looking for ways to provide support as quickly and effectively as possible. In addition to housing, however, our aid also helps prevent children from being removed from their families, preserve people’s mental health, or avoid long-term unemployment,” explains Barbora Komberec Novosadová, Director of the Social and Endowment Fund of the Capital City of Prague.

The amount of CZK 10 million is based on the overall experience so far with aid provision through endowment programs. Prague has the largest percentage of households that spend more than 40% of their income on housing. Over the past 10 years, housing prices in Prague have grown twice as fast as wages. The most common obstacle to finding decent housing is the initial costs associated with renting an apartment (e.g., paying a deposit).