The State Fund for the Promotion of Youth Housing Construction plans to provide 4-5 times more youth loans in 2005 than in 2004. This was stated by the fund's board chairman Valeriy Omelchuk at a press conference on Tuesday, reports "LIHABiznesInform".
According to Omelchuk, in 2004 compared to 2003 the fund provided 2.7 times more loans to young families for the construction and purchase of housing. Thus last year 2,784 loans were provided: 1,684 loans were received by families at the expense of state and local budgets, 1,100 – under the program of partial compensation of the interest rate on commercial bank loans. "Thanks to innovative programs that the fund develops on an ongoing basis, the number of loans for the construction and purchase of housing increases annually by multiples," emphasized the fund's board chairman.
Omelchuk also reported that this year an increase in state financing of the program for providing loans to young families is expected. According to the fund's board chairman, work is currently underway with the government and it is planned to increase financing for these purposes to UAH 500 million (in 2004 the state provided UAH 130 million for lending). Also, as the board chairman said, work is ongoing to increase financing from local budgets.
Over the course of 2-3 months they plan to launch the mechanism for issuing the fund's securities (first tranche – UAH 100 million, second – UAH 500 million). At the expense of these funds, young families will receive loans for 15-20 years at 5-7%. The fund is working to have the bonds placed on the external financial market. As Omelchuk emphasized, this will make it possible to additionally provide housing for several thousand young families.
In addition, work is ongoing to attract bank credit resources. The fund expects UAH 500 million of such funds (in 2004 about UAH 200 million of bank resources were attracted). According to him, the fund's specialists are working on the development and implementation of several more innovative mechanisms that allow attracting additional funds for the implementation of the state program to provide housing for young people. "The fund plans in 1-2 years to reach such an operating mode that every young family, upon applying for state support, selects the necessary option from a diverse assortment of youth housing lending programs and within a short time receives the desired loan," said Omelchuk.
The fund's board chairman noted that there are very many people among young people who wish to receive a loan – 100-150 thousand young families, however, tens of times fewer receive it. Omelchuk informed that there are families who have been standing in line since 1999. To improve the situation, the fund is developing other programs, some of which allow young families to move into a new apartment within a month.
In addition, Omelchuk confirmed that preferential loans for the construction and purchase of housing throughout Ukraine not only solve the housing problem but also improve the demographic situation in the country. Thus, according to him, in families that received loans, the birth rate is 2.8 times higher than the average in Ukraine.