Loaded up at MEM. A housing experiment that goes sideways

“Luxurious apartments over 80 m2, best locations in the center of old districts, turnkey finishing, parking spaces and 24-hour security” – this is an advertisement for the Warsaw Municipal Housing Experiment (MEM) from over 20 years ago.

Approximately 850 apartments in five buildings in Żoliborz, Mokotów, Praga Południe and Praga Północ were inhabited by approximately 3,000 people in the years 1998-2002. people. In return, they transferred their existing ownership, cooperative or municipal apartments to Warsaw free of charge. The idea seemed successful: you could give the city a studio apartment of 30 m2 and rent an apartment of over 80 m2 for an indefinite period. What could go wrong?

Warsaw housing experiment

The then Warsaw authorities wanted to use this program to provide good housing conditions to middle-income people who could afford to pay higher rent, and at the same time to obtain cheaper, smaller apartments for families waiting for municipal premises – explains Marzena Gawkowska, spokeswoman for the Capital City Office, in Rzeczpospolita. Warsaw.

According to the daily, in 1995 3,877 apartments were completed in Warsaw, and in 2020 – 23,543 apartments. The assumption was that thanks to these investments, the needs of two households would be met in one premises.

Experimental tenants were selected in a tender in which the rent was set, which was higher than in municipal apartments, but since 2019 there is no difference. The city promised that the apartments will be available for purchase when the investment pays off. And here comes the problem.

Unfunny meme

Experimental tenants refer to the officials’ oral promise and the resolutions of that time. However, the communes did not undertake to sell them in any document – neither in the notarial deed transferring ownership of the premises belonging to the tenants, nor in the lease agreement. For years, Warsaw has not wanted to agree to the purchase of apartments from MEM.

The reason for the growing concern of experimental residents are the new regulations regarding municipal apartments and, above all, the ban on their inheritance. Due to the mandatory income verification provided for in the draft project, apartment fees may increase. Turning off automatic inheritance will deprive their families of the possibility of continuing the lease, which is why purchasing apartments is the best solution for this group of people. Hence the request to the Ministry of Development and Technology to exclude MEM from the proposed housing regulations.

According to the Deputy Minister of Development and Technology, Tomasz Lewandowski, Warsaw should find a solution to the situation for MEM residents at the local government level. – We cannot regulate the problem of several hundred apartments more broadly at the level of the act that regulates the entire national municipal housing stock – he explains.

Warsaw does not intend to give up on the sale of MEM apartments. Experimental want to go to court in this case.