Czech government approves 5.8 billion Kč for up to 2,900 below-market rental flats

What did the government approve?

The cabinet approved the conditions of support for the new programme on 2 November, the results of its meeting show. It has an allocation of 5.8 billion Kč and will support up to 2,900 flats, the Regional Development Ministry says. The ministry's headline rounds that to "nearly 6 billion", and the press to six.

The money comes from two EU programmes, the Integrated Regional Operational Programme (IROP) and the Just Transition Operational Programme. Those who build or buy get a mix of a grant and a cheap loan, and put in money of their own. It can pay for new buildings, for rebuilding and converting existing ones, and for buying blocks of flats. The State Investment Support Fund (SFPI) will run it.

Can Prague get any of it?

Yes, from one of the two programmes. About 2.87 billion Kč comes from IROP, its managing authority says, and about 3 billion from the Just Transition programme, a deputy minister said in June. The Just Transition money goes only to the Moravian-Silesian, Ústí and Karlovy Vary regions. The IROP money covers the whole country "including the capital city of Prague" (our translation), a change the European Commission approved on 21 September.

Prague could get 1.13 billion Kč of the new money, and the rest of the country outside the three regions just under two billion, ČTK reported from the same briefing. IROP's programme document sets a target for 2029 of 340 affordable flats with lower energy use in its "more developed" category, which is Prague. That's a target, not a promise of 340 flats.

The ministry and the SFPI gave these terms at a press conference in June, before the cabinet's decision. The approved text isn't public, so they may have moved:

• Grant: up to 30% of costs in the three former coal regions, 25% in other regions and 15% in Prague.
• Loan: up to 40 years, at a rate then around 1% a year, depending on the European Commission's rate for Czechia.
• All support together: 75% to 85% of the cost. Under the first programme it could reach 90%, with a grant of up to 25%, or at most 40% with bonuses.

Who are the flats for?

The ministry talks mostly about people whose work a town needs. The minister's examples are nurses, teachers and police officers, and she says towns, the state, universities and hospitals have projects ready to house their staff.

IROP's document names three groups of tenants: people who pass an income test, people in needed professions, and people at risk of domestic violence. The rules for version 2.0 aren't out. The first programme's rules are the best guide so far, and they let a landlord rent only to someone who, with their household, owns no home or co-op share, and who is one of these:

• in a household with income up to the 8th of ten income bands, or the 9th if everyone in it is under 36;
• working in health, education, public safety, the rescue services, social services or public administration (here, owning no home in that region is enough);
• a victim of domestic violence (co-owning a home with the abuser doesn't count against them).

Leases ran for one to two years, and tenants had to prove they qualified, and again at each renewal. Those rules say nothing about nationality.

How far below the market will the rent be?

The published papers don't say. The SFPI's director says support comes "always on condition of a rent below the market price" (our translation), and ČTK reports from the minister's briefing that the Finance Ministry's price maps will decide what counts as below market.

In the first programme, rent was capped at what the flat costs to build and run, and had to be below the usual rent in that place. A landlord could raise it by inflation, at most 4% a year. IROP's document requires the flats to stay affordable rentals for at least 20 years.

Why a second programme?

Because the first ran out. It had 7 billion Kč, projects worth 18 billion asked for it, and intake stopped on 30 June 2025. About 2,300 flats are being built or will be from that money, the minister said in June, and 123 projects worth 10.3 billion Kč were waiting, ready and with permits.

So the new money won't go far. The SFPI's advice centres were tracking projects worth 56 billion Kč in June, with up to 16,750 flats.

What does it mean if you rent or buy?

If you rent, nothing changes now. Your lease and your rent stay as they are, and this programme doesn't touch private rents. In the first programme, owners filled their own flats. An owner other than a town, a region or a company they control had to offer the town, the district or a public institution the naming of tenants for at least a quarter of them, and could choose itself if they didn't respond. So expect any future flat to come through its owner, such as a town, a hospital, a university or a state body, rather than a central list. If you work in one of the jobs above, your employer or your town hall is the place to ask.

If you're looking now, these flats won't help you this year. Prague's existing city flats have their own applications, which our story on the new City Assembly explains. For the private market, start with renting in Czechia as a foreigner and what a flat in Prague costs to rent.

If you're buying, these are rental flats, not flats for sale.

What happens next?

• End of 2026: more details are due, the press reports, and the ministry says further information will appear on the SFPI's site. That's when we should learn the tenant rules and whether June's terms held.
• Thursday 19 November: Prague's new City Assembly is due to meet again, to elect a mayor and council. This programme isn't known to be on its agenda. IROP's document lists the city and its districts among those who can get the money, along with companies, universities, churches and non-profits. Nothing yet says whether they'll apply.
• February 2027: applications open, ČTK reports. The ministry says "the start of 2027".