Brussels, 17 March 2025
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €90 million Czech scheme to support the construction, reconstruction, and acquisition of affordable rental housing. The scheme will be funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF’), following the Commission’s positive assessment of the Czech Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by the Council.
The aim of the scheme is to facilitate an additional supply of rental housing that the market would not supply by itself. The housing will be provided for an affordable rent to households falling within one of the following groups: (a) households with insufficient funds; (b) young families; (c) households where at least one member is active in a profession of an essential nature, such as healthcare, education, maintenance of public security, provision of social services or public administration; and (d) households including victims of domestic abuse. Under the scheme, the aid will take the form of subordinated loans. The scheme will run until 30 June 2026.
The European Commission has also approved an amendment to an existing Czech affordable rental housing scheme, which was approved in April 2024 and partly funded by the RRF, in order to align its conditions with the scheme approved today.
The Commission assessed the schemes under EU State aid rules, in particular under Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which enables Member States to support the development of certain economic activities under certain conditions. The Commission found that the schemes are necessary and appropriate to support the supply of affordable rental housing. Moreover, the Commission concluded that the schemes are proportionate, as they are limited to the minimum necessary, and have a limited impact on competition and trade between Member States. On this basis, the Commission approved the Czech schemes under EU State aid rules.
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under case number SA.115811 in the State aid register on the Commission’s competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved.