Published on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, the Joint Ministerial Decision (Government Gazette B’ 2603/01.05.2024) for the provision of new measures favorable to the granting of income or cohabitation subsidies for temporary accommodation of residents (homeowners and tenants) in areas that have been affected by extremes floods phenomena of September 2023. In particular, it concerns the affected areas in the Region Thessalyin Phthiotida and Evia of the Central Greek Region and in Eastern Attica of the Attica Region.
Specifically, the most favorable new components of the income and cohabitation subsidy scheme are:
(1) The granting of temporary housing subsidy to buildings fit for use with “category C” damage for 1 (one) year. In other words, the maximum term increases by another 6 (six) months and reaches 12 (twelve) months. Thus, for the first time, owners of buildings eligible for use are granted a temporary housing subsidy for one year, during which the beneficiary can benefit from the rent and cohabitation subsidy in the case of the buildings in question, which have been more exposed. to the destructive effects of flood phenomena. For the remaining categories of buildings, that is, those designated as “yellow” and “red”, the two-year time horizon applies from the outset.
(2) The acceleration of the granting of the temporary housing subsidy from the second (2nd) quarter following the first (1st) quarter. In particular, to expedite the granting of the second quarter temporary housing allowance, applicants who have been considered beneficiaries of the first quarter temporary housing allowance, to immediately be considered beneficiaries of the second quarter allowance, simply submit a relevant application – responsible declaration (with specific text) to the competent body, without the obligation to immediately present the respective supporting documents. The application – declaration of responsibility must be presented:
- within 1 (one) month from the publication of the Official Gazette, that is, until 06/01/2024, if the applicant has been considered eligible for the temporary housing allowance for the first quarter, with a decision rendered by the date of publication in the Gazette Official Gazette (i.e. 01.05.2024)
- within one (1) month of the publication of the Official Gazette by which the applicant was found eligible for a first quarter temporary housing allowance, which was issued after the date of publication in the Official Gazette of the Official Gazette (i.e. 01.05.2024) .
(3) Extension of the deadline for presenting supporting documents for the 2nd (2nd) quarter for those who were considered beneficiaries of the 1st (1st) quarter. Specifically, a new deadline is set for the presentation of the supporting documents required for the second quarter, which must be presented to the competent GDAEFK service by all those who have been considered eligible for the first quarter subsidy:
- until May 31, 2024, for all beneficiaries who have been awarded by decisions of the competent body issued until the date of publication in the Official Gazette of the specific KYA (i.e. 01.05.2024)
- within 1 (one) month from the publication of the decision by which they were considered beneficiaries by decisions of the competent body issued after the date of publication in the Official Gazette of the specific CPA (i.e. 01.05.2024).
(4) The extension of the deadline for submitting initial applications for the granting of a temporary housing subsidy. In particular, the deadline for submitting initial applications for the granting of cohabitation rent subsidy is extended until May 12, 2024. With this provision, on the one hand, late applications submitted to date are accepted, which will be analyzed immediately, and, on the other hand, eligible citizens who, due to incomplete or incorrect information, did not have time to submit their application by the deadline, have the opportunity to submit their application on the digital platform https://arogi.services.gov. gr/.
Following the issuance of the KYA with the change to the temporary housing regime, the Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, responsible for recovery from natural disasters and state aid, Christos Triandopoulos noted that “the government, by timely identifying the needs of citizens affected since the extreme floods in September, the temporary housing regime is being extended through the granting of a rent and cohabitation subsidy for a period of one year and for cases of houses suitable for use but which have been significantly affected Thus, for the first time, in these cases, in addition to the initial provision for one semester, provision is foreseen for another six months, and a series of important facilities are also foreseen for both the second quarter of use of the scheme by the beneficiaries, as well as for the process of presenting relevant supporting documents.
The work of the services of the General Secretariat for Rehabilitation of Natural Disasters and State Aid continues at an intense pace with regard to the implementation of the temporary housing regime, having so far paid 1.6 million euros to 1,442 beneficiaries (families) in the first quarter, with the presentation of the respective supporting documents and by other applicants – upon relevant information from the service – payment continues daily. Payment of the subsidy, which exceeded 90% of the scheme’s timely applications that were complete and complete. Payment of rent and cohabitation allowance, which can reach up to 300 euros per month, which will continue – after submission of the prescribed requests – also during the second quarter for beneficiaries in the affected areas”.
Timely requests for temporary accommodation in the first quarter – through rent or cohabitation subsidies – reached 2,813, of which 1,442 were paid and correspond to 1,611,302 euros, 577 were rejected, 134 are in the process of being released for payment and the others are awaiting presentation of relevant supporting documents after communication and relevant information from the competent body. Consequently, of the flood victims’ complete and timely requests for rent and cohabitation subsidy, 91% of these requests were paid.