The goal of the programme “Rental Housing for Latvian Professionals” is to create modern, energy-efficient and affordable housing tailored for young professionals and their families in sectors important to Latvia both at national and municipal level (i.e. teachers, firefighters, police officers, military personnel, state and municipal employees, etc.). Taking into account the solvency of residents and market conditions, joint municipal and national efforts will be required to co-finance rental housing.

According to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, SJSC “State Real Estate” has been entrusted with the implementation of the programme in Latvia. The European Investment Bank (EIB) consultancy support starts today and it covers the necessary financial and economic calculations and consultancy services to ensure the quality of the programme implementation and to accelerate the implementation of the affordable housing programme. This is the first consultancy contract of such scale that has been concluded with the EIB in Latvia and the contract will ensure that international institutional investors could also finance the construction of affordable rental apartments. The EIB consultancy support will bring together an international team from across Europe with expertise and experience in developing such projects. The EIB consultations under the programme are provided free of charge to Latvia and financed by the European Commission.

The project is developed according to the “design-build-finance-maintain-operate by private partner” model and the public sector availability payment will be included in the State and local government budgets from 2030 alongside the availability of housing to residents. In addition, the programme provides that at the end of the project, local governments take ownership of the land and the constructed housing units.