hmotná nouze

Analysis: Czech Civic Democratic Party cracks the whip on the poor with yet another anti-Roma campaign

13.12.2019 9:58  full story

Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion criticizes housing benefit-free zones

25.2.2019 9:12  full story

Czech expenditure on aid to those in material distress lowest for the last six years

26.7.2018 8:30 Expenditures on the set of welfare benefits known in the Czech Republic as "aid to those in material distress" have significantly fallen for the fourth year in a row and are at their lowest levels in six years. The number of persons receiving assistance from the state is also declining.  full story

Czech Christian Democrats, SocDems want to stop the use of vouchers in material distress benefits

28.6.2018 6:31 The Czech Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) and Czech Social Democrats (ČSSD) want to absolutely abolish the compulsory disbursal of part of aid to those in material distress in vouchers instead of money and are asking for a return to the previous approach in which beneficiaries received their welfare in money and Labor Offices could decide to disburse just part of the benefits in vouchers in individual cases only. Amendments were submitted by both the ČSSD and the KDU-ČSL during the second reading yesterday of other bills on the issue to make sure that benefits paid exclusively in money will be received by some groups of the more impoverished beneficiaries.  full story

71 Czech towns plan to ban housing benefits and make life harder for the poorest of the poor

21.4.2018 8:36 Zones with an alleged "increased incidence of undesirable phenomena" in which new applicants will not be able to receive housing benefits have been announced or are planned for 71 cities and municipalities throughout the Czech Republic. The Institute for Social Inclusion (IPSI) announced the news on 12 April.  full story

Czech mayor once praised for Roma integration halts subsidies to part of housing estate, impact on tenants unreported

1.8.2017 12:45 The Czech News Agency reports that following the towns of Děčín, Jirkov and Most, the famous village of Obrnice has become yet another municipality in the Ústecký Region to decide to exploit the recent amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress and to halt the disbursal of housing benefits to addresses in so-called "areas with an increased incidence of socially negative phenomena". The decision specifically affects the inhabitants of at least three prefabricated buildings in the village's local "Nová výstavba" housing estate, but the Czech News Agency does not report what will become of them.  full story