New soft loan scheme, more opportunities for citizens (change from previous years)

The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, held a conversation with citizens, mainly young couples, beneficiaries of the social housing program in previous years, who shared their experiences and emphasized that the soft loan interest subsidy has changed their lives. In his speech, Veliaj said that the new housing scheme includes an increase in the number of loans, to 1200, and added that the reference price for purchasing a house has been updated.

"With the new scheme, we have more opportunities: we will provide 1,200 soft loans from the 1,700 applications we have so far. So, more than 50% of applicants will benefit from soft loans; something unprecedented, given that previously 10-20% of applicants were declared winners because the interest was very high, but the opportunities were smaller. We used to put 300-400 loans on the market, today we have 1,200. Not only that, but the prices are up-to-date, and for the first time we have opened the project beyond single-parent families, young couples, including families that may have gone through very difficult situations," he explained.

Veliaj said that today most of the citizens of Tirana are homeowners, unlike other European capitals, where municipalities own a significant portion of real estate. Thus, he explained that the increase in property prices is good news for most citizens who own real estate because their property is worth more today. "When I hear these people who scream in front of the municipality or on television - who have houses several times bigger than mine, and whose villas cannot be counted on the fingers of one hand - who justify the price of properties, I say they are trying to make the poor cry, while simple logic is enough to understand that the increase in property values ??for 90% of citizens who are homeowners is good news because what they have in their home, which is theirs, increases. Meanwhile, for this other 10% we have programs like this one of soft loans," he added.

Focusing on some of the initiatives of the municipality and the government, Mayor Veliaj said that this year will be the year of important and sustainable reforms for the city of Tirana. "I have dedicated my life to this city, I want this year to have the greatest solidarity reforms it has ever had. I am very happy that here we are keeping up with the government, with the increase it made in pensions, gave the bonus, there will be another one in March. The government reduced the price of energy and will continue to support the needy. The municipality also made the bus pass free for pensioners, while students have been traveling for free for a year. We also subsidize the cost of the dormitory by 50%. We are the only municipality in our region that has free bus travel for students and pensioners. This is the social policy we need", concluded Veliaj.