Czech town calls for legal changes to curtail those who profit from social deprivation

The town of Most intends to respond to the fact that the system of disbursing housing benefits makes it possible for landlords to charge rents to their tenants on welfare that are higher than the usual market rents in the same locality. The town has decided to appeal to the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry to change the current practice of disbursing housing benefits.

Vlastimil Vozka, the chief magistrate of Most, says the town council will produce a map of rents in the town in order to prove the need for the change. Until now, the town has disbursed the housing benefits according to the amount of rent listed in the lease agreements submitted to it. As of January, this obligation will be transferred to the Labor Office. Even though the town’s map won’t help it directly – the law does not make it possible to adjust the amount of the housing contribution – Vozka wants to use it to call on the ministry to change the current system, which is detrimental to the socially deprived and the state budget.

The chief magistrate says real estate agencies must stop making money on renting apartments to the socially deprived. “They submit the lease agreement to the authorities and receive the housing contribution according to how high the rent is,” Vozka said.

The current practice makes it possible for landlords leasing to welfare recipients to set rents as high as they like. The housing benefit is paid by the town directly to the landlord’s bank account. The benefits are regulated by a decree from the Czech Labor and Social Affairs, which establishes limits for municipalities of various sizes; the calculation also takes the family’s total income into account. The Most town leadership says rents established for welfare recipients and the size of their housing benefits exceed the usual market rents in specific localities.

Mayors of municipalities in the Šluknov foothills have also been criticizing this opportunity for landlords to make more money on housing benefits to the socially deprived than they do on market rents. The mayors claim that property owners have been moving so-called welfare-dependent “inadaptables” into their municipalities for this reason. Locals blame the new arrivals, particularly Romani people, for a rise in crime and are concerned for their own safety.

Since the end of August, anti-Roma protests have repeatedly been held in the towns of Rumburk and Varnsdorf. Locals, joined by right-wing extremists, have been marching on residential hotels for the socially deprived. This past Saturday, two more such protests were planned, but only the one in Varnsdorf took place. Similar marches, however, also took place on Saturday in Havířov and Kladno.