Ljubljana, 15 May (STA) - The government adopted on Thursday a package of legislative amendments designed to significantly expand the nation's public rental housing stock, backed by a EUR 100 million annual commitment for the coming ten years and aiming for the construction of 20,000 new units.
Speaking to the press about what is one of the government's s focus areas until the end of the term in mid-2026, Deputy Prime Minister Matej Arčon highlighted that the package is to be further amended during parliamentary procedure to also include enhanced security for landlords, thereby encouraging the placement of more private properties to the rental market.
"With this, we hope to give confidence to those property owners who have empty flats and are reluctant to rent them out because it is increasingly common that people are difficult to evict, for not paying rent, etc."
The legislation is set to secure EUR 100 million annually from 2025 to 2035, providing a stable and predictable financial framework for long-term investment. "This will enable long-term planning of investments, including in municipal funds, as the state will finally provide a predictable and favourable source of financing," Arčon said.
At least EUR 75 million annually will go to the Housing Fund for construction, acquisitions and co-financing of municipal projects. Up to EUR 25 million will subsidise interest rates of SID Banka, the state-owned development bank, enabling low-cost loans for housing providers.
The ministry said today that the changes to the Housing Act are geared towards more effective management of public rental housing. It stressed the intent to "strengthen the role of local communities and housing funds as key drivers of the public rental system's development and to reinforce the awareness that public rental housing units are a development potential for local communities and not their burden".
Consequently, municipalities and local funds will gain "more freedom in determining tender conditions for allocating housing," the ministry said.
"This means they will be better able to follow their social and development needs, thereby strengthening the accessibility of public rental housing for the middle class, for young people and young families, and for employees in professions important for the local environment, while also enabling better allocation of housing to various vulnerable groups in the local area." Procedures for allocating public rental housing are also set to be simplified for greater speed and efficiency.
A significant change involves subsidies for vulnerable groups in public rental housing, which the state will now cover. According to the ministry, this "means that a larger number of public rental housing units will no longer be a burden on municipal budgets."
The previously outlined subsidy swap remains: municipalities will take over subsidising market rents, currently a state function, while the state will manage subsidies for public housing rents, currently a municipal responsibility. State subsidy costs are projected to rise from EUR 12.8 million in 2025 to EUR 20.4 million by 2030.
Non-profit rents in public housing will also see "gradual adjustments." The ministry explained that "current rents, especially in older buildings, do not allow for investment in new housing construction and the maintenance of the existing stock."
As previously indicated, these adjustments, likely including a maintenance surcharge, are expected to increase overall rental income from these properties by 20% to 40%. Ljubljana rents would for instance rise from EUR 3 to EUR 6.5 per square metre to between EUR 5 and EUR 7.
The changes, coming after only EUR 15 million had been secured by the state for public housing construction between 2015 and 2022, build on earlier proposals and are part of a new National Housing Programme, which is to replace the existing one that received only EUR 13.8 million total funding.
Reacting to the news, head of the national Housing Fund Črtomir Remec welcomed it "with great satisfaction", speaking of "a key shift in addressing housing issues in Slovenia."
He stressed that after three decades, the new legislation will establish "stable and predictable conditions for financing housing projects, enabling long-term planning and construction of a larger number of quality public rental apartments."
"It will be the basis for our largest investment wave to date, within which we are building or have in preparation almost 2,000 apartments throughout Slovenia," Remec said, adding that "with the plans we have been preparing and developing, we are now moving to construction sites."
Further detailed explanations will be provided by Minister for a Solidarity-Based Future Simon Maljevac and the ministry's State Secretary Klemen Ploštajner at a press conference scheduled for Friday.
