The obvious right of a free person to a roof over their head is being called into question, as are further financial burdens that will fall on all of us—and will ricochet mainly onto the local government we elected. The bad parliamentary act of 2 July 1994 led to the adoption of “Resolution No. V/39/94,” passed with considerable reluctance and heavy hearts by the councillors of the town on the Bóbr during the December session. I was one of two councillors who abstained, hence this attempt to justify such a decision.
A great deal of controversy surrounds the effectiveness of some solutions in housing law contained in the cited Act on the Lease of Residential Premises and Housing Allowances. There are reservations about the methodology for setting initial rent rates and the alternative proposals originally submitted by MPGM: the basic rate is 6,000 old złoty per square metre, while actual maintenance costs reach 10,000 złoty per m². There are already considerable arrears in existing rents, with tenants doing very little “work them off,” and only a few cases of tenants moving from large apartments to smaller ones. A psychological factor plays a role here, one that central and local technocrats completely fail to take into account. It may be assumed that the debt situation will worsen rather than improve.
Concerns arise over the management of money obtained from rents and other charges for leasing premises. Tenants of municipal housing are not sure whether the funds collected by landlords will actually be spent on keeping buildings in proper condition, let alone improving their standard.
The problem is all the more serious because the housing allowances expected to be paid to eligible recipients from funds earmarked specifically for this purpose may also be spent on other purposes unrelated to housing management. In practice, this would mean that financial assistance from the state and municipalities, provided for in Articles 44 and 45 of the Act, would not be fully effective. Given that state-budget funds for housing allowances are more than modest, concerns about their use are entirely justified.
Municipalities that lacked money for housing allowances faced the temptation to set the maximum regulated rent at an annual level of 3% of the replacement value of the premises. This would simply risk users refusing to pay rents that were too high. In Bolesławiec, this trap was understood from the outset, so obtaining consensus at meetings of the City Board was preceded by heated discussions and complaints, mainly directed at the MPGM management over its excessively high—although varied—rent-calculation proposals. It is a genuine vicious circle: rents that are too high take the last złoty from already meagre pockets, while subsidizing the difference and setting charges for apartments too low would burst and ruin the city budget, which is far from enjoying full prosperity... Common sense prevailed—or so it seems: on the one hand, councillors took tenants’ difficult financial situation into account—the social criterion—while on the other, they submitted to objective economic constraints, respecting the broadly understood vital interests of members of the municipal community.
Rent reform places all matters related to managing housing resources in the hands of municipalities, but gives them no money. There is no point in deluding ourselves: the state treasury lacks sufficient funds to cover the full costs of operating apartments, necessary repairs, and all housing allowances. In its 1995 budget proposal, the city planned to allocate 6 billion złoty for housing allowances. A considerable burden—let us hope it will be enough for everyone... The technical condition of many buildings cries out to heaven, but what can be changed without sufficient financial resources? As many people grow poorer, the city falls into ruin—the dependence and mutual connection between these processes leave no doubt.
A few facts. Rent arrears owed by tenants of municipal housing amounted to 2 billion 161 million złoty at the end of 1994. MPGM—and therefore the city—will probably not recover this money. At the request of that institution, the City Board agreed to cancel the debts of 94 poorest families, totaling PLN 256 million. Poverty protrudes from every corner there, and nothing indicates improvement, hence the deeply human basis for the decision. From a legal standpoint, tenants can be evicted to so-called social premises and inhumane ghettos can be created on the outskirts of the city. People can be forced to move into cramped, smaller apartments; finally, they can work off their rent arrears. Only the last solution is worth accepting from a humanitarian perspective. This is a task for the housing administration, which so far has apparently approached the enforcement of timely settlements too casually and formally. A much greater opportunity must be provided for instalment repayments and for converting debt into specific work on renovation or other tasks.
The essence of local self-government is joint management and shared responsibility for the fate of the local community, and this cannot be placed solely on councillors as representatives of the electorate. There can be no archaic division into “us” and “them,” because that is a road leading nowhere. The city has made one more significant effort to ease the housing plight—or perhaps misery—of the poorest. Two residential pavilions are being built for them on Kościuszki Street. This year, six family apartments will be completed and handed over for use, while the remaining eight will be left in the so-called shell condition—unless additional millions of złoty are found to finish them sooner. Let us hope that happens.
The city is therefore trying to solve the problem within the limits imposed by its restricted budget. And although the new rent charges came as a genuine shock to many, it is worth remembering the true culprit behind the turmoil and burdens that could have been introduced in reasonable instalments. But that no longer depends on the local government or city councillors. The decision-makers sit higher up, in considerably more comfortable chairs.