Minister thanks organisations for ‘humanitarian’ refugee housing help

Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou on Wednesday presented the support plan ‘ktiZO’ for renovation and new apartments at refugee housing estates.

Speaking at the conference, Ioannou announced that the non-profit organisation TechIsland will donate €400,000, while the church of Cyprus will donate €100,000, and the SupportCy network will make its volunteers available to refugees who need help, while member companies of the network will donate goods.

Ioannou emphasised that the social network “aims to cover some additional needs for those beneficiaries who are demonstrably in need of financial or other support, during their temporary stay in other places, until they can settle in the new apartments”.

At the same time, he announced the decision to provide additional financial and other assistance to beneficiaries of the “ktiZO” plan, who have special needs and meet specific criteria of socio-economic vulnerability.

“Day by day more and more eligible refugees are interested in participating in the scheme to get a new and safe, modern apartment,” he said.

He stated that the money that will be offered by the above organisations, as well as additional financial support given in the future by other companies and private individuals, will be deposited in a special account and function as auxiliary aid in addition to state support.

“The money is utilised with an unwavering commitment to good management in a transparent and simple manner, based on socio-economic vulnerability criteria established in individual meetings and discussions with the beneficiaries, and control that will be carried out through the databases of other competent government services,” he added.

Ioannou said that other organisations and companies have already pledged to contribute, and it is expected that around €500,000 more will be collected. Help from the Bank of Cyprus and the Housing Finance Organisation, who will contribute to provide funding to beneficiaries, is important.

“Since the first day we announced the plan, we have received interest from organisations, non-governmental organisations and institutions, who want to support the government’s effort, showing their humanitarian side in practice,” he said.

Ioannou said that many of the affected tenants are already in the process of finding housing to move into temporarily until the new apartment buildings are built.

Specifically, he said that out of the 183 apartments in the 20 apartment buildings that fall under the first phase of the plan, 15 applications for participation have been submitted in the last few days, with seven of them having already vacated the apartments and handed over the keys to the department of urban planning.

He said that officials from the ministry have been visiting people in the apartment complexes to inform them of the benefits of the plan, and people, who already moved, have started receiving the stipend for the rent on their temporary accommodation.