Integrated System of Exchanging Municipal Flats in Gdańsk
The City Hall of Gdańsk ul.Nowe Ogrody 8/12 80-803 Gdańsk Poland www.gznk.pl Contact person Irena Kordel Head of Flat Exchange Office irena.kordel@gznk.pl Size of organisation 500-5000, people involved: 1-5 Type of sector Public administration, modernisation, institutional affairs, reform Key words of project Flat exchange, municipal flats, social flats, streamlining of municipal flat management, municipal housing resources, tenant, debtor, eviction, project, programme
The city of Gdańsk administered 29,000 municipal flats at the beginning of the programme in December 2004. The Flat Exchange Office established in the Municipal Real Property Board of Gdańsk implements the integrated flat exchange system aimed at: rational management of municipal housing resources, removal of discrepancies between size of flats occupied by tenants of municipal resources, and number of inhabitants versus income of their households, and capacity of regular rent payment, improvement of housing conditions of tenants of municipal resources, decreasing the number of debtors and persons waiting for social flats. Following eight years of operation, Gdańsk city has only 19,000 municipal flats in its resources. During this period, 1132 exchanges were conducted; 606 families had their debt relieved, maintaining their title to council housing; 2344 families improved their housing conditions. Gdańsk Municipality recovered PLN 13,813,637 (about €3,453,000) of practically uncollectible debt.
The opening of the Flat Exchange Office was positively received by the tenants in debt. The number of applications submitted for flat exchanges makes up 70% of all offers in the database. The system allowed flats to be exchanged between municipal tenants and owners of private flats. The database contains detailed data on residential units, the form and scope compliant with the data obtained during stock taking process, allowing for comprehensive presentation of the offer. Full integration with financial software enables monitoring of cash flows associated with exchanges. The effects of this project were recognised by other local governments facing similar housing problems. All applications of the interested municipalities were approved and the solution was made available to applicants free of charge. Until 2008, over 10 cities have already applied the solution. Gdańsk was the predecessor of this movement at the national level and it is still the leader in terms of the number of families assisted. The solution used in the project has significantly improved financial results of the city in municipal flat management. The programme allowed for improvement of housing conditions of 2344 families, including over 600 families exposed to social exclusion. It was possible due to a change of municipal flat management procedures, good communication and cooperation, both inside the office and with inhabitants, and effective application of IT technology.
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EPSA2013115
Submitted by the City Hall of Gdańsk