The government will on October 30 announce two new schemes aimed at making housing in Cyprus more affordable, before beginning to implement both schemes within November, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said.
The schemes in question are the ‘renovate-rent’ scheme and a grant of financial support to young people seeking to get onto the housing ladder.
The ‘renovate-rent’ scheme has been touted by the government for over a year, with Ioannou saying on Monday that it “seeks to contribute to the inclusion in the housing market of idle residential units for affordable rental”.
He added that the government hopes the grant for young people will “strengthen young people’s and young couples’ purchasing power for them to be able to buy a first home”.
Additionally, he touched on the matter of a new streamlined process through which district governments can issue planning permission for developments of up to two houses.
He said the new procedure has “significantly accelerated” the planning permission process, and that with the “more active involvement” of private surveyors and a checklist of requirements, it can still be ensured that the relevant requirements are met.
To this end, he said the government now hopes to expand this streamlined procedure to cover other “low risk” developments, including apartment buildings made up of up to 20 apartments, and terraces of houses consisting of up to 12 houses in a row.
He also spoke on the matter of student accommodation, saying the government is going ahead with the creation of a total of 450 student rooms in Nicosia’s old town, at a cost of €15 million.
This student accommodation will be available to “students with specific socioeconomic criteria” and will be rented out at “a predetermined affordable price”.
Should this plan prove a success, he said, the government will then collaborate with other local authorities and the private sector to build similar such student accommodation in other parts of the country.
