The Cyprus government has made big changes to its housing policy. This plan aims to solve problems with too few homes. The new policy was announced on Wednesday. It has new ideas for student homes. It also makes affordable housing programs stronger. These steps show the government wants to fix housing problems. This is especially important for students and people with less money.
A main part of the plan is to build good student rooms. These rooms will be close to universities. New student buildings will have a maximum of ten rooms. This will make living spaces better. For example, a building with five rooms needs about 77 square meters of space. These homes will be for new buildings and old ones too. They will be near universities, within one kilometer. This helps students save time traveling.
To build student homes faster, there are new benefits. There are fewer parking spaces needed. Only one space is needed for every five rooms. This makes building easier and cheaper. Also, grants for student homes have increased by €5,000 per unit. The policy also allows old non-residential buildings to become homes. This gives more options. Electricity limits for students have also gone up. This helps them manage costs. More people can now get these homes because income limits changed.
The government is also improving affordable housing. The Cyprus Land Development Organisation (Koag) received €28 million. Koag plans to build many homes this year. They want to offer 244 homes to buy and 192 to rent. More than 2,500 homes are already being built. About 22 more projects will add more homes. These projects get €11.5 million for the affordable housing fund.
The government also helps people who need housing most. Families who lost their homes may get 20% more financial help. The government is working with the Ministry of Energy. This could allow people to get up to €100,000 in state help. Building new homes will be faster because of simpler rules. This could help over 5,500 units start building one year sooner. These changes should create more student and affordable homes.