ATHENS – “Our young people must live better than previous generations, not worse. And it is our duty to stand by them so they can achieve this. The ambitious programme for affordable housing for young and more vulnerable citizens that we announced at the Thessaloniki International Fair is fast becoming a law of the state and beginning,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a social media message on Monday.

“In this way, the plan “My Home” is being established in an official way also as a buffer against high rents and high property prices, especially for couples that plan to start their life together,” he added.

Mitsotakis noted four actions included in the draft bill that has already been posted for public consultation at the website http://www.opengov.gr/minlab/?p=5936:

1) Firstly, with low-interest or interest-free bank loans that the state funds jointly by three quarters for 10,000 of our fellow citizens aged 25 to 39 yearsold. Thanks to the state’s participation, the interest rate will be steadily up to 75 pct cheaper than the equivalent commercial interest rate. A very important assistance, especially in the current climate of rising interest rates. Thus, beneficiaries will pay for their own home a monthly installment that is lower than the rent they would pay for the equivalent apartment.

2) Secondly, a programme to use the hundreds of real estate properties owned by the state that are currently lying idle, which will be made available as modern residences with a relatively low, regulated rent to 2,500 beneficiaries aged 18 to 39 years old

3) The renting by the state of residences that will then house vulnerable young people or young couples for three years.

4) A subsidy of 10,000 euros to owners of properties of up to 100 square metres that are empty or declared as empty so that they might be renovated and given, at a low rent, to young people seeking housing.

Mitsotakis also said that consultation had been completed and a start was about to be made in the special programme “Anakenizo-Exikonomo gia neous” (Renovate-Save for Young People), which will subsidise the energy upgrading and renovation of homes belonging to young people that cannot be used because they are too old.

“Five initiatives, yet another bold reply by the state to a problem of the age,” Mitsotakis said, adding: “Greece is changing. It is striding forward and aiming high, providing more opportunities and chances to the younger generation. With stability, consistency and continuity!”