Interior minister seeks Greek advice on affordable housing

Interior minister Constantinos Ioannou travelled to Athens on Tuesday to meet with the Greek social cohesion and family minister Sofia Zacharaki.

The pair met with the aim of designing a new “comprehensive housing policy framework”, which would have “an emphasis on affordable housing”.

At the meeting, Ioannou thanked Zacharaki for the Greek government’s willingness to discuss and exchange views on housing policy issues. He also informed her that plans and proposals from various involved parties and other countries regarding the issue are currently being evaluated by the Cypriot government.

Ioannou said the government hopes to reinforce Cyprus’ existing housing policy framework with new plans, “with the aim of ensuring a supply of housing to people on low and middle incomes”.

He added that the government aims to formulate a single strategy for affordable housing through the utilisation of “significant reserves” of state-owned and privately owned land.

Zacharaki informed Ioannou about existing housing programmes in Greece, as well as showing him programmes the Greek government is preparing to implement in the near future. She also assured Ioannou that his planned projects would have the support of the Greek government.