In four years, approximately 240 new apartments for affordable housing are expected to emerge in Donja Dubrava, near Sesvetska Sopnica. This follows today’s decision by the Government, according to which the state has transferred 56,180 square meters of state land to APN free of charge, valued at around eight million euros. APN is committed to bringing the land into use within four years and to submit the execution and occupancy permit to the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property within the same timeframe.
Sopnica South
The land now taken over by APN is part of a project previously known as Sopnica South. The location has been waiting for activation for years, although APN conducted a competition for the conceptual urban planning and architectural solution back in 2007, and the parceling created according to the winning design has remained relevant to this day. According to the valid General Urban Plan of the City of Zagreb, there is no need for a special urban planning development plan for this location, which means that design and obtaining permits can commence immediately.
The Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property previously confirmed that Sopnica South is primarily considered a direct state investment in affordable housing and that the project is in communication with the City of Zagreb.
Further steps will proceed according to the Law on Affordable Housing, which was adopted by the Croatian Parliament in April this year. The law establishes a new framework for state and local affordable housing programs, and the Government has announced plans to build and renovate a total of 20,200 apartments and family houses by 2030. Of these, 8,000 new apartments are to be built through APN, while another 9,000 apartments are planned to be activated by utilizing vacant housing units. The remaining part of the plan relates to the activation of state properties and construction and renovation in assisted areas. Approximately two billion euros in investments are planned for the implementation of housing policy by 2030, with an additional 3.5 billion euros by 2034.
New Model
The new Law on Affordable Housing allows APN a significantly more independent role in project realization than before. APN is explicitly defined by the law as a public investor, and it can implement projects through the national program even when local self-government does not have its own program, meaning local self-government does not have to be the investment holder. However, the City remains involved in issues of communal infrastructure and spatial planning.
Local self-government units can also develop their own affordable housing programs and propose specific locations within them, and eligible projects can be co-financed with state funds through APN.
The City of Zagreb has been developing its own affordable rental plans at three locations. In Podbrežje, the construction of nearly 300 apartments is underway, in Borovje, an urban planning development plan for a settlement of about 600 apartments is being prepared, and through the Europan project in Sveti Klara, around a hundred apartments are planned along with accompanying infrastructure.
New Regulations
At today’s session, the Government also amended the Regulation on the sale price of family houses or apartments in state ownership in assisted areas, allowing for the submission of requests for purchase after five years of residence in a housing unit in state ownership and after ten years of residence in housing units built with EU funds. The period for recording the prohibition of alienation has also been extended from three years to five years from the conclusion of the sale contract.
The Regulation on the criteria for scoring applications for housing care has also been amended, introducing two new models of housing care, bringing the total to seven. The new models relate to the sale of uninhabitable apartments and the donation of construction materials for the repair of apartments and roofs in the top floor or attic of a multi-family house.
The number of points has been increased for applicants who are persons with disabilities or have household members with disabilities, a new criterion has been introduced for single parents in caregiver status, as well as for members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, the Ministry of the Interior, and judicial police, as well as professional firefighters.
