On TVP they talk about “Apartment for a start”. And it’s already funny

Let’s recall what this is about. The draft law on “Mieszkanie na Start” has been submitted for consultation. The new program is to replace PiS’s “Safe 2% loan.” and is to be valid for at least two years, with this year’s budget of approximately PLN 500 million. In short, the idea is that buyers of their first apartment will be able to receive a subsidy that will reduce the interest rate on the loan taken out for this apartment. While borrowers without children will be able to obtain an interest rate reduction to 1.5 percent, in the maximum version – when there are three or more children in the household – it will be 0 percent.

What are the main objections of the program’s opponents? Very simple. The government’s idea will neither lower housing prices nor make them more accessible. Prices will still be high, but those who take part in the program will pay a lower bank installment. The rest of the bank’s earnings will be financed by the government, or more precisely, taxpayers. This is the first objection. Secondly, developers will have no interest in lowering prices. Why, if people tempted by cheaper loans will buy anyway? These two factors combined with demand – Poles need apartments – may further increase prices. Government representatives even say it directly. – We knew about the greatest risk from the very beginning and we informed ourselves about a possible price increase – said the Minister of Development, Krzysztof Hetman, recently on Radio ZET.

All this together caused quite a storm on social media, which we described in more detail here. The ministry received so many critical comments that Hetman talks about a “wave of hate” and announces applications to the police. He also added that the telephone had to be turned off in the ministry’s secretariat “because, God bless the lady who works there, she was forced to listen to a lot of profanity from people who called this number.”

But you won’t learn all this from the flagship news program of public television, “i9.30”. One of the materials was devoted to “Apartment for starters” in the April 11 issue. And it became controversial when it was announced. “#NaStart is a new project of the housing loan subsidy program,” host Zbigniew Łuczyński began the announcement. – It is intended to replace the “Safe 2% Credit” government of the United Right, which remained safe only in name. After its introduction, apartment prices throughout Poland increased by several percent. Will your own M become more real this time? – added.

One could ask here whether it would be better to separate the information about the introduction of the new government’s program from the comment that the previous government’s program “remained safe only in name.” After all, in “i9.30” the viewers were supposed to be served clean water instead of propaganda soup.

But let’s leave it, because in the material we can see several young men who tell the camera that it is difficult to find an apartment and that it is expensive. Then comes the representative of the opposition, a former PiS minister, Waldemar Buda, who estimates that a loan of 0 percent. it will only be for a few. The current spokesman for the ministry immediately counters by saying that this is how it should be, because single people received subsidies for PiS, and the government wants the subsidies to go to loans of large families. We also have an expert who points out that we cannot stop, because we need solutions that will make it easier to build more apartments and increase their availability. So formally everything is correct: there is the voice of ordinary people, there is the opposition, there is a coalition, there is an independent expert voice.

But let’s listen to the voice in the off. Because the author of the material, Marek Smółka, reminds: – The program of the United Right government caused an avalanche of loan applications, stimulated demand and drove up prices. And he immediately calms down the anxiety that is emerging in the viewer’s mind: – The current project has safety features: a maximum of 15,000 people will be able to submit applications in a quarter, and there will also be income criteria.

So no worries, dear viewer, it’s expensive because of the previous program, now there are fuses, so you can sleep soundly. Not a word about the fact that the new program is basically the same as the previous one. Both here and here we have state subsidies for loans – but both are structured differently. There was no mention of the fact that even the current government takes into account that housing prices may continue to grow due to the increased interest in loans. Finally, there is not a word about the doubts regarding “Apartment to start”, which are expressed by, among others, Left wing politicians. Or social emotions around the idea – if the minister says that there are threats against ministry employees and wants to notify the police, maybe it would be worth finding out why?

– The release of a large number of new apartments onto the market would finally result in lower prices. And Poles have been waiting for this for decades – we find out instead.