In Poland, the number of people who cannot afford to pay high taxes or buy a flat is growing
In Poland, the number of people who cannot afford to pay high rents or buy their own flat is growing. High inflation, as well as the war in Ukraine, are behind the increase in prices in the country. Zenobia Zaczek, activist for the rights of tenants, helps people who cannot afford a flat today…
Many of the rental flats available on the market are priced above the income that tenants can bring in. So the real problem is that a lot of them can’t afford to feed their families and pay their rent. So, in a normal situation, the government would intervene with some offer of social housing… The problem is that many of them simply do not meet the requirements to access social housing and they cannot afford housing on the private market”, says Zenobia Zaczek, Committee for the protection of tenants’ rights.
One of the people Zenobia helps is Iwona, who has occupied an empty apartment owned by the council with her partner and their 3 children: “The former owners [del piso] They told us to leave the apartment because they were going to get divorced and they were going to sell it. We were looking for a flat to rent, but the prices went up so much that we had no money…But that’s another reason: [la gente] does not want to rent to couples with children. I got a contact with a certain person, and we got into [en este piso vacio]because we didn’t see any other way out: or the street with children, or such a solution. The process continues. Now we are going to have an eviction case in court. Well, but I hope you’ll give us this apartment.”
“Every week there are at least 5-10 people like this…”, says Zaczek.
The Ministry of Economic Development, Waldemar Buda, points out that the high house prices reflect the general upward trend. Aid programs such as home loans are also being prepared and hope this trend will stabilize. “If we have an average inflation of 14% in 2022, it would be difficult for similar factors that affect this entire basket of inflation not to also affect property prices,” says Buda.
What can we do about it? So slow down this process. And we have taken a big step with the record number of apartments built last year: 237,000. This should cause prices to stabilize with such an offer.”
But, above all, the departure of workers from Ukraine and energy prices have caused this upward trend to continue.
Rising prices, not only in the housing market, but also in the food and utility sectors, rarely go hand in hand with wage increases in Poland. After months in this situation, many find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
Source: Euronews Espanol
