After lengthy debates, the government approved amendments to the law on social services and social assistance at an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, which provide for an increase in coefficients for calculating housing benefits from January 1 to April 30 of this year, Diena reports.
The draft amendments will be submitted to the Saeima, and it is currently difficult to predict in what form they will be adopted. Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze attempted to postpone the consideration of the amendments for a week. As one of the arguments, the minister pointed out that the draft amendments had not been discussed with the deputies, so their voting could turn out differently.
The Latvian Association of Local Governments (LSS) and the Latvian Confederation of Employers also opposed the amendments. Nevertheless, ministers from other coalition parties insisted that the consideration of the amendments could not be delayed, as people are already asking many questions about when there will be clarity regarding support for heating bill payments. As explained by the Ministry of Welfare, which developed the amendments, changes to the formula for calculating housing benefits are planned during the specified period.
The bill provides for an increase in the coefficient for calculating benefits for single pensioners or disabled individuals from 2.1 to 2.5, for households consisting only of pensioners or disabled individuals, as well as for such households with children - from 1.7 to 2, and for other households - from 1.3 to 1.7. This means that residents who are already entitled to housing benefits will receive more to cover increased expenses, while the number of beneficiaries will expand by approximately 7,500 people, and the average benefit amount will increase by 46.15 euros per person per month.
However, the main problem pointed out by the LSS and the Union of Regional Development Centers and Regions is the difficulties many local governments face in paying housing benefits, as their volume and number of recipients will increase. Local authorities want the state to participate more in the payment of benefits, while Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens indicated that they could borrow funds from the State Treasury. Local governments also want the state to allocate funding for additional payments to employees calculating benefits, whose workload will increase, but the government does not guarantee 100% state funding for these additional payments.
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