Czechia: Housing support increased for people displaced from Ukraine

On 17 July the Czech government approved an alteration to the housing allowance available to those displaced from Ukraine (the so-called eligible housing cost), which is one of the components of the humanitarian support granted by the state to this group. From 1 August, the allowance granted will change to 6 000 CZK monthly for vulnerable persons and 4 000 CZK for everyone else.

This change comes about alongside other changes in housing support for people displaced from Ukraine that will take effect on 1 September. State-funded humanitarian accommodation for vulnerable individuals will come to an end, and the period in which state-funded accommodation is provided to people newly arrived from Ukraine will be shortened from 150 days to 90 days.

Further, for a household (wherein individuals are assessed as a group), eligible housing costs for a maximum of 5 people will be taken into account, with vulnerable persons considered first. This change will affect approximately 11 600 people who have been living in state-funded accommodation for more than 150 days.

NGOs highlighted a risk that following the end of state-funded accommodation some refugee groups may be unable to afford the rental costs of commercial accommodation.