Municipal Housing Reimagined: Who Will Have Their Contracts Extended and Who May Be Evicted

Committee of Good Services

Elina Treija, chair of the Housing and Environment Committee from the National Alliance, explained the new requirements at a plenary session of the municipality, citing the demands of the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development, as well as changes in Latvian laws: "But after further reviewing these seemingly technical rules in the committee, we agreed to introduce many more amendments."

In particular, at the suggestion of Vladislavs Bartashevich ("Latvia First"), paragraph 18 was clarified: "People who have the right to extend their contracts do not need to request it; it will be automatically prepared by the Department of Housing and Environment and provided..."

At the suggestion of Edgars Ikstens ("New Unity"), tenants who reach 75 years of age are entitled to a contract extension if their spouse has preferential rights, for 5 years (previously 2 years).

Treija herself proposed to register as large families tenants who have lived in Riga for 2 years. Financially, Riga intends to spend 24,000,000 euros on the renovation of municipal housing stock by 2027. This year, work was carried out in houses at Lielupes Street 1 k.10, Dolomita 1, and Prushu 25A, totaling 6,000,000 euros. As a result, 197 apartments will be renovated, which "beneficiaries" will be able to move into -- just over 10% of those on the waiting list.

But There Are Nuances

New Requirements for Tenants of Municipal Apartments:

• no debts;

• no violations regarding the use of residential premises – illegal reconstructions, etc.;

• no other suitable property for residence;

• the person is registered in the apartment assigned to them as part of housing assistance.

• If all these requirements are met, then tenants have the right to extend their contracts regardless of whether these apartments may have been assigned based on additional criteria – for example, low-income status.

The Riga City Council will no longer check the income of individuals assigned municipal housing. As for social housing -- this is a separate category... One way or another, a proposal from the opposition faction "Sovereign Power/New Latvians" represented by Inna Djeri was made to allow individuals aged 75+ the possibility of 2 years of using social housing, instead of the current 6 months.

However, proposals from her colleague in the faction, Lyubov Shvetsova, were urged not to support by committee chair Treija, although it is very important: it complicates... the eviction of tenants!

• The legal proceedings become more complicated to evict a tenant who does not fulfill the conditions, -- explained the committee head.

• The Department conducts on-site inspections in each apartment, - addressed committee head by deputy Yulia Stepanenko ("Sovereign Power/New Latvians"), - Do you really go to the houses?

• Controlling what happens in municipal houses is actually our duty, -- replied Treija.

During the discussion, however, an interesting detail emerged: if the managing company of the building where the municipal apartment or social apartment is located is not the municipal SIA Rīgas namu pārvaldnieks, then the inspection is a "third-party service," and for the municipality, it is carried out by a private firm. Contractors are appointed through a competition.

"You Will Put Them on the Street, I Know!"

So pointedly pressed deputy Stepanenko on the leadership of the Housing and Environment Committee. She also cited as an example a conflict where a Riga orphan receives housing from their hometown but is forced to sue the municipality to include their child in the contract.

The Department of Housing and Environment shrugs it off - saying that if the state has obliged the municipality to provide someone with apartments, it is orphans, not their children! Also, the spouses of orphans do not have the right to be independent users of this housing.

• So, a mother gives birth to a child, and - you throw them out as an ineligible person? - the deputy was outraged. It turned out, meanwhile, that the Law on Housing Assistance provides for only one (!!) person to whom the apartment is granted. Although the Law on Rent applies to several people.

Working Spouse = Loss of Apartment?!

• Isn't this discrimination? - asked deputy Shvetsova, reading the provision of the new Rules "social housing cannot be provided to a low-income person who has married a person with a permanent income." The Department responds: pensioners and disabled persons of groups I and II can apply for social housing. If happiness has come in personal life, then a catastrophe occurs in the housing sphere: a person with benefits loses them upon marrying a working person.

However, one can timely insure themselves - looking for candidates for spouses with similar parameters. For example, it is convenient for a pensioner to marry a disabled person, and the latter with persons of different groups. But not less than II. Absurd, you might say? Unfortunately, this is our Riga reality.

After all, social apartments, Elina Treija insisted at the council meeting – are a special kind of support: "They are very expensive."

Housing Queue: Who Controls Whom?

Over 5 years, the queue for housing provided by the Riga municipality has halved: in 2020, there were 3186 individuals/families in the queue, and at the beginning of 2025, there will be 1656 individuals/families. Currently, the housing stock owned by Riga consists of approximately 11,000 apartments. Of these, about 1700 are social apartments, and the rest are municipal.