On Monday, Prime Minister Robert Golob said in the National Assembly that the construction of 2,000 public rental apartments will start in Slovenia this year. However, the data show that this was a claim that is not true.
The Prime Minister made the remark after MP Andrej Poglajen of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) asked him a parliamentary question on housing. With the question, he reminded the Prime Minister how his government had first promised to build 30,000 non-profit rental apartments and then later changed that to 3,000 public rental apartments a year, but nothing happened. In fact, he said, the Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (SSRS) had built fewer than 400 apartments in 2023 and 2024, respectively, and in this context, the MP accused the Prime Minister of lying.
MP Poglajen further pointed out on the social network X that the Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia has 15 announced projects that would provide around 1,980 new housing units. Of these, the realisation of 8 projects, or 1,289 housing units, is set for the years after 2027 and 2028. “This was also confirmed by the Ministry of Solidarity-Based Future in its reply to my colleague MP Andrej Hoivik,” the MP added.
Only 226 Housing Fund apartments have been announced for this year
The Prime Minister’s statement was also checked in more detail by the media outlet Žurnal24, which came to the same conclusion – that the Prime Minister was misleading with his statements. Although one might conclude from looking at the data of the Housing Fund that it is in the stage of preparation, construction and purchase of 1,986 apartments, they point out that the mentioned figure also includes the already-built apartments from Novo mesto, specifically 103 flats, the keys of which are already being handed over to the future tenants.
The 226 apartments are expected to be built by the Housing Fund later this year. However, if the activities of the municipal housing funds are also taken into account, it is worth noting that the Ljubljana Housing Fund is planning to start building approximately 440 apartments. Three major investments are planned for the coming year, in the form of approximately 1,100 apartment units to be built in Maribor, Ljubljana and Kranj.
This is also the case, among others, for the locations in Ljubljana (Podutik – Glince), Maribor (Novo Pobrežje), Kranj (along the Sava River), Koper (above Dolinska 3), Nova Gorica (Rožna Dolina), Jesenice (Partizan) and Novo mesto (Brod – Drage), for which the business plan of the Housing Fund from 2021 to 2025 states that they would carry out “the development of investments in the construction of rental housing for the acquisition of up to 1,500 new rental dwellings.” They have stated that in 2021, the projects were “at the stages of preparation and adoption of spatial planning acts, verification of capacity and preparation of project documentation and obtaining construction permits.” While the financial sources for the projects in the 2021-2025 Plan did not include budgetary resources, the Housing Fund was able to obtain more than 38 million euros in funding from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).
“The carnival costumes really do chase away winter, but your government is chasing away housing for young people,” Poglajen told the Prime Minister, branding the Prime Minister’s claims as false. He recalled that the Housing Fund’s Business Policy, adopted in 2021, dictates housing policy until 2025. He pointed out that the projects the current government is now boasting about are all already listed there. “What are you actually doing? You are calling the projects of the previous government your projects, and this is something that is a constant within the current coalition. In Slovenia, we have a saying that says: “Grain upon grain makes a cake, stone upon stone makes a palace”, and during this government, we can add the statement: “Lie upon a lie, the Golob government’s term.” For all we are hearing now are empty promises,” he stated critically.
The Prime Minister, who has more than obviously exaggerated in his announcements, insists on how housing policy is one of the central policies of this coalition and this government. Of course, since it is clear to everyone that the past announcements on housing construction cannot possibly become a reality in light of this pace, the Prime Minister pointed out, in his defence, that when he took office, they mentioned that they wanted to achieve a breakthrough in two mandates. “Because there is no other way to do it than to build for two mandates,” the Prime Minister insisted.
S. K.
