Social housing in Serbia is back in trend after nearly 20 years - preparation of necessary legal regulations

(Zoran Alimpić, Žaklina Gligorijević)

- After nearly two decades, creation of the conditions for construction of social - non-profitable apartments in Serbia has started again, and the first step on that path - the Law on social housing, was adopted by the Parliament at the end of August. What follows is passing of sub-legal acts and laws on residence and public-private partnerships, as well as founding of appropriate agencies and funds, while the work on the Study on non-profitable housing in Belgrade is already in progress - Zoran Alimpić, the Deputy President of the Assembly of City of Belgrade, said on the occasion of today's (September 10, 2009) opening of workshop "Social and Modern - Housing in Vienna".

- It is necessary that the construction be as massive as possible, that the apartments be as cheap as possible, and that the environmental aspect of construction is taken care of - said Alimpić.

Žaklina Gligorijević, the Director General of the City Planning Institute of Belgrade, who is one of the organizers of the event and the author of the Study on social housing in Republic of Serbia, told "ekapija" that the necessary conditions for starting social housing were: adequate legal framework and institutions, professionals, and the money in the budget, as well as the money of private investors.

- The City Planning Institute of Belgrade enjoys great support from the non-government sector with which we cooperated when the state was relatively inactive, and that was when we used all their experiences in every field. We got great support, and we expect much more from the City of Vienna, which is one of the best European examples when it comes to construction of non-profitable apartments and cooperation with private sector. There are no developed countries that finance residential development exclusively from the budget. The City has the right to use certain locations in Belgrade, and now that the Law on planning and construction has been changed again, we will have to take care of that, but there are indications that the state will be able to allot land in certain locations without complicated procedures – Gligorijević explained.

She said that other cities in Serbia were better organized than Belgrade because they had already founded their housing agencies.

- New Law on social housing now gives us the right to organize the agency that will be some kind of legal and financial heir of the funds that existed before - Gligorijević pointed out.