The housing strategy adopted by the Council of Ministers has two goals – ceasing the processes of deterioration of the state of the existing housing and creation of a working mechanism for provision of new accessible housing to buy or rent

The housing strategy adopted by the Council of Ministers has two goals – ceasing the processes of deterioration of the state of the existing housing and creation of a working mechanism for provision of new accessible housing to buy or rent. This was announced by the Regional Development and Public Works Minister at a press conference on the occasion of the presentation of the National Housing Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria. He added that the priorities and the consistency of steps for implementation of the strategic goals of the national housing policy are addressed towards the most urgent reforms and social needs considering the acute financial deficit of the state, municipalities and the individual households. Participants in the press conference were the Regional Development and Public Works Deputy Minister Petya Gegova and Stefan Hubanov, Head of Housing Policy Department in the MRDPW. The goals of the strategy will be implemented under three operational directions: creating a framework of the national housing system, solving the priority problems in the housing consumption and launching an informational and educational campaign. The first direction includes the programmes for creation of an institutional framework, improvement of the financial, credit and tax system for the housing sector. The second direction offers programmes for management and maintenance of the existing housing, for structuring and renovation of housing complexes, for renovation of prefabricated housing buildings, for provision of access to housing for families with low income and improvement of the housing conditions of the rooms The third direction offers two programs – an informational and educational campaign among the citizens to reach public agreement about the new housing policy, and training of the district and municipal administrations for conducting the new housing policy and implementation of the underlying programs The National Housing Strategy also includes an action plan for the period 2004-2007 as this plan comprises the specific tasks according to the different programs, the responsible contractors and the necessary financial funds for the implementation of those measures, announced Minister Cerovski. By means of the strategy we aim to provide the framework for interaction between all sides of the process – the state, municipalities, districts, owners of housing, financial and bank institutions, real estate market agents, construction and design companies, said Deputy Minister Petya Gegova. PR & International Relations Directorate