Framed into a government program? There were supposed to be apartments, there is an investigation. “It’s weird”
First there were promises, then a spectacular fiasco, then again promises that tenants would buy the apartments thanks to “attractive” solutions. However, as “Wprost” learns, only a handful of tenants took advantage of the offer. The first investigation has also been launched and it is possible that there will be further investigations. Embittered residents say that “Mieszkanie Plus” was supposed to be a godsend, but it is now a nuisance.
The “Mieszkanie Plus” program was supposed to “give Poles back freedom and a normal life.” This is what PiS president Jarosław Kaczyński said when he broke ground on the construction of a housing estate in Biała Podlaska in 2016. The ambitious vision assumed the construction of 100,000 apartments for people who earned too much to afford municipal or social housing, and at the same time too little to buy an apartment at the market price. The program enjoyed great interest, there were more applicants than apartments, but the plan remained on paper. By the end of 2019, not 100, but only 15,000 apartments had been built, with another 20,000 under construction.
The decision to end the program was made in May 2023, but those who believed in the government’s assurances and met the government’s requirements were still living in housing estates in various parts of the country. They heard from the then Minister of Development, Waldemar Buda, that the government would prepare “attractive and well-thought-out” solutions for them. The “closing of the topic” was supposed to be the purchase of apartments. After the change of power, there were also assurances from politicians of the current government that the matter would be resolved.
It was supposed to be preferential
Today, residents say with bitterness that the program that was supposed to support them has become a nuisance. There have been reports of skyrocketing rents over the years, but the government has frozen them. Until the end of 2025. Residents also complained about botched investments, moisture and falling plaster. And finally, there were reports of the astronomical amounts they would have to pay to become apartment owners. Tenants were offered either a cash purchase or the option of “acquiring ownership”, which assumes that for 25 years they will pay rent increased by the amount for the purchase of the apartment.
