We are establishing the Social Rental Development Centre. Its aim is to disseminate Social Rental Agencies so that they operate in as many cities in Poland as possible. SRAs, like this centre, operate due to the support of European Funds

- said the Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz at a briefing after the signing of the agreement for project implementation.

Local authorities will receive expert assistance. The support will be addressed in the first instance to the local governments of approximately 80 municipalities identified in the Polish Development Strategy until 2035 as development centres. A report will be prepared on the potential of cities to develop social rental. Tools for selecting the cities most likely to create an effective SRA will also be indicated. Workshops and webinars will be also organised.

These activities will be terminated by the selection of 30 municipalities for which individual SRA operating plans will be developed. A network of regional proxies will be established to actively support the introduction of SRAs. A local SRA communication strategy will be developed for each municipality, targeting potential tenants, landlords and also those who can act as SRA.

Support is also provided for municipalities investing in SRA. They will receive, among others, legal advice. Their local authorities will be able to apply for additional funding to launch SRAs in the 3rd edition of the competition launched by the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy under the European Funds for Social Development (EFSD) programme.
The “Social Rental Development Centre” project has received PLN 9 million in funding from the EFSD programme.

SRA in the face of housing challenges in Poland

The MDFRP supports the development of Social Rental Agencies as a social innovation combining a housing service with social and labour activation. SRAs acquire dwellings for rental, renovate them, then manage the rental and support tenants of the dwellings in the labour market. This is a way to increase the number of housing for low rent. Due to the launch of the SRAs, municipalities are able to expand their offer for the most disadvantaged residents.

In Poland, we have a gap of 119 thousand public dwellings that people are waiting for and almost 2 million vacant premises. SRAs connect vacant property owners with people waiting for a municipal tenancy. This has already proved successful in many Polish cities

- the minister added.

So far, we have funded 12 projects. We support SRAs in Bielawa, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Gdańsk, Kłomnice, Kraków, Mysłowice, Poznań, Puck, Tarnów, Włocławek, Wrocław and Żyrardów.
In total, we have already invested over PLN 65 million from the European Funds in over 500 dwellings for 740 people in need in 12 municipalities, of which six municipalities decided to launch this innovative formula with our support.

Systemic development of the SRAs in Poland

The partnership of KZN and IRMiR will simultaneously carry out extensive dissemination activities of the SRA idea. A platform will be created as a knowledge base and a forum for the exchange of experience. Research and evaluation on the development of Social Rental Agencies will also be carried out. This will enable the development of optimum paths for SRA development in Poland and recommendations for legislative changes at the final phase of the project.