Affordable social housing proving popular in Osijek.
Croatian minister of construction and physical planning Anka Mrak-Taritaš said on Friday in Osijek that the socially assisted housing program (POS) is continuing with its successes, and now includes the concept of rental apartments, for which the citizens have shown great interest, reports Poslovni.hr on November 1, 2015.
Accompanied by economy minister Ivan Vrdoljak, minister Mrak-Taritaš visited the building in the Vukovar Street in Osijek, where 10 out of 38 apartments have been sold under the POS initiative conditions, while the other 28 apartments will be rented with a possibility of purchase later. A public call for those interested in renting the apartments was published on July 11, 2015, and more than 160 applications have been received, of which 125 met all the necessary criteria.
Speaking to reporters, minister Mrak-Taritaš said that these were new and good quality apartments. If the tenants decide to purchase their apartments during the first three years, the purchase price will be reduced by the amount they will have paid for rent until that time.
“What is important is that our citizens are able to rent apartments of about 45 square metres for about a thousand kuna and that we have enabled them to solve their housing problems in several different ways, not only through purchase, but also through rental. They can make their final decisions later”, Mrak-Taritaš added.
Economy minister Ivan Vrdoljak said that the citizens should be informed about the model which enables them to rent POS apartments with the possibility of a later purchase. He believes that, when people receive enough information, there will be much greater interest and that the state will have to continue with the model of the construction of such housing, which, he believes, is better for solving the housing problems of citizens than taking out loans in Swiss francs.
