Underprivileged to benefit from housing scheme

WITH just weeks to go to the legislative elections, the government yesterday announced a housing scheme aimed at helping low-income groups gain easier access to land.

The surprise decision was taken by the Cabinet yesterday. The plan regulates the publication of state-owned land plot for poor families, the manner in which the real estate will be distributed (by lottery) and safeguards to ensure there is no discrimination.

It also determines the size of the house to be built on state land, and provides for the establishment of a committee where applicants can take their objections.

The ambitious plan applies to selected communities across the island.

Speaking to the media shortly after the Cabinet session, Under-Secretary to the President Christodoulos Pashardis said the scheme was “effective immediately.”

“Its philosophy is to help underprivileged families have a place of their own,” he said.

Notably, EU citizens who are permanent residents of Cyprus and meet the economic criteria are also eligible for the scheme.

Opposition DISY greeted the measure but claimed patronage. The party’s no.2 Averoff Neofytou yesterday called a news conference to say that DISY had submitted the same proposal to the Finance Minister a day earlier.

“It took just 24 hours for the government to make this decision. Unless this is a sign of panic—for fear that DISY’s views have a wide appeal—it is certainly a step forward for political culture in our country,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.