Speaking at the New Energy economic forum at the Targi Kielce trade fair in south-central Poland, Lewandowski called the plan “the most comprehensive housing strategy in more than 30 years.”
He said its main goal is to support people stuck in what the government calls the “housing gap” – families who earn too much to qualify for traditional low-income housing, but too little to afford suitable homes on the private market.
According to Lewandowski, this group includes about 4 million families who have often had to rent flats that are too small or buy apartments that do not meet their needs.
“We are redefining the goals of housing policy,” Lewandowski said, arguing that for three decades homes in Poland were treated mainly as a social policy instrument for the poorest, while a large middle group was left out.
The government has earmarked PLN 40 billion (EUR 9.45 billion, USD 11 billion) in funding for the strategy through 2030.
Lewandowski said that more than PLN 4 billion in non-refundable grants for municipal and social housing construction will be available next year.
Municipal housing in Poland refers to apartments owned by local authorities and rented out at controlled, below-market rates.
Lewandowski told the conference that the aim is to “cool the market, to make prices reflect the real value of homes rather than the marketing and speculative activities of companies operating there.”
He added that he does not expect the programme to compete directly with private developers.
In his view, many Poles will still want to buy larger, more expensive apartments on the open market, while public projects will provide decent rental homes for those who currently fall into the gap.
The plan rests on three main pillars. The first is targeted financial support for new rental housing aimed at the gap. The second is creating stable conditions for organisations that build and manage such homes. The government wants to strengthen Social Housing Associations (TBS), as well as Social Housing Initiatives set up by local councils. It also plans to simplify investment procedures for municipalities.
A key element is to “bring housing cooperatives back to life as full partners,” Lewandowski said.
He noted that Poland has more than 3,500 housing cooperatives, including around 1,000 large ones with experience in construction, property management know-how and trained staff.
The government is preparing a legislative package for them, which is expected to cover land issues, financing tools for new projects and legal changes that would make it easier for cooperatives to invest.
Strengthening their role, Lewandowski argued, would make use of an existing network rather than building everything from scratch.
The third pillar is to free up land for new housing.
Under proposed rules, the development minister would be able to take over unused plots owned by state-run companies, and allocate them for residential projects.
The government also plans to restore the use of perpetual usufruct for housing purposes, a long-term lease-type right familiar in Polish property law, and introduce a new form of “layered ownership” designed to make it easier to build on tight plots in dense city centres.
Lewandowski said that if the new programmes quickly reach the target of 25,000 completed municipal and social apartments a year, this would be a significant addition to the roughly 120,000 multi-family units handed over by the private sector last year.
He added that he expects cooperation, rather than rivalry, between public and private builders as the strategy is rolled out.
Poland’s housing policy focuses on making homes more available and affordable while improving overall housing conditions, mainly through support for affordable rental construction, help for first-time buyers, and energy-efficient renovation of existing buildings.
Builders completed around 200,400 new homes in Poland last year, a decrease of 9.4 percent from 2023, according to Statistics Poland.
At the end of 2024, Poland had about 16 million dwellings, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier, national statistics office data show.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP