The village family housing benefit ‘csok’ is very popular, families in the countryside very much avail themselves of this benefit option, the government commissioner responsible for the development of modern settlements said in evaluation of the first year of the programme at a press conference held in Budapest on Monday.

Alpár Gyopáros highlighted that in the whole of Europe there is no other support scheme such as this; the village family housing benefit programme is “unique and exemplary”.

He said up to the end of May 10,229 families submitted support requests to the value of more than HUF 54 billion. The territorial distribution of applications is more or less even throughout the country. At the same time, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, Baranya County, Heves County and Nógrád County – where there are a great many small settlements – “stand out” on the list.

Also as regards the purposes of the applications, the situation is balanced, 52 per cent of applicants requested funds for the purchase and modernisation of properties, while 48 per cent wish to use the available credit for the enlargement of their homes, the government commissioner said.

He also highlighted that primarily those families applied for the benefit where there are already three children or which would like to have three children. They account for sixty per cent of applications. Thirty-eight per cent of applicants have two children or want to have second children.

Families requested non-refundable grants worth HUF 7.7 million on average for the purchase and modernisation of properties in the case of combined grants, while in the event of the modernisation of existing homes, they applied for HUF 2.6 million on average.

Mr Gyopáros recalled that the legislation on the village family housing benefit ‘csok’ entered into force on 1 July 2019, and families submitted the first applications to financial institutions at this time a year ago.

The government commissioner said the village family housing benefit is available throughout the entire territory of the country; based on the government decree, it can be requested in 2,486 settlements in Hungary. These are the settlements with populations of less than 5,000 where in the decades before the entry into force of the decree there was a population decline. Subject to the number of children families pledge to have, the non-repayable grant part can amount to as much as HUF 10 million. Already existing homes, too, can be enlarged or modernised; in this case, the non-repayable grant can amount to HUF 5 million. In addition to the non-repayable grants, interest-subsidised credit is also available to families, Mr Gyopáros pointed out.

He observed that in the case of outlying farms, benefits can be requested depending on the settlement to which they belong from a public administration point of view.

From 1 January, a new element of the scheme is that in the settlements covered by the family housing benefit ‘csok’ families are also eligible for VAT refunds up to HUF 5 million.

If a family avails themselves of the non-repayable grant in combination with an interest-subsidised loan and the VAT refund, they are required to apply for these simultaneously at financial institutions.

According to Mr Gyopáros’s overall evaluation, the village family housing benefit is a grant scheme which seeks to incentivise the births of children, and which at the same time helps with the establishment of homes, boosts the housing market and gives the construction industry a new impetus. By his calculations, if all elements of the benefit scheme are taken into consideration, a family pledging to have three children can apply for as much as HUF 40 million, including the village family housing benefit, the baby expecting support, the non-repayable allowance and the VAT refund.

The government commissioner encouraged families having moved away from villages to take advantage of the village family housing benefit and to move back to their native villages.

(Prime Minister’s Office/MTI)