Will state employees under 40 be able to receive government subsidies for the purchase of housing?

Deputies and government representatives at a plenary meeting of the Supreme Council discussed law-in-draft that proposes to increase the maximum permissible age for young families who receive state subsidies for the purchase of housing. Parliamentarians Oleg Bayev and Sergei Pisarenko proposed giving the right to a subsidy if one of the spouses is under 40 years old.

One of the spouses must not be 36 years old to receive a state subsidy in the current version of the law “On state support for young families for the purchase of housing”. This age limit is valid from 2022. The law provided for an age of up to 35 years previously. The changes were adopted two years ago so that more young families could take advantage of state support from the state and receive a state subsidy for full or partial payment of the loan and interest on it to buy their own apartment or house. Parliamentarians again initiated changes for the same reason.

Presenting the law-in-draft “On state support for young families for the purchase of housing” to his colleagues, Deputy of the Supreme Council for electoral district No. 10 in the Dubossary district Oleg Bayev noted that the initiative appeared on the basis of numerous appeals to the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, the Government and deputies. The issue of increasing the maximum permissible age limit for young families – recipients of state subsidies for the purchase of housing, is constantly raised, Oleg Bayev emphasized.

Opinions were voiced during the discussion of the law-in-draft that increasing the age would lead to additional requests from young families for state support, and to additional costs from the republican budget, accordingly. Parliamentarian Oleg Bayev focused on the fact that after three years of implementation of the law, many certificates for the provision of state subsidies were returned by recipients. One of the reasons for refunds is bank loan processing, which takes a lot of time, the deputy considers.

Other reasons related to the low level of salaries of public sector employees and the rise in prices for housing on the real estate market were voiced by the Chairman of the Committee on Social Policy, Sergei Cheban.

The head of the Social Policy Committee said that the committee deputies at their meeting decided to support in the first reading the law-in-draft on raising the age for receiving state subsidies. However, the Government sent a negative opinion to the law-in-draft due to the lack of financial justification. The law on state support is financed from the republican budget and directed from the Youth Support Fund. As Finance Minister Alena Ruskevich explained to the deputies, the Fund’s money, which for a number of reasons did not go to provide state support to young families, is redirected to other items of state expenditure. The state has allocated a smaller amount due to limited capabilities than the real need for the provision of state subsidies (to the Youth Support Fund) in this year’s budget.

Deputies of the Supreme Council adopted the law-in-draft of Oleg Bayev and Sergei Pisarenko in the first reading. One deputy voted against. The relevant committee will prepare the initiative for the second reading. It is planned to be considered in the autumn session. There were opinions, for example, about increasing the age for receiving government subsidies to 44 years, since WHO considers young people from 18 to 44 years old. Russian youth have the same age limit.

If the law-in-draft is adopted, changes to the laws “On state support for young families for the purchase of housing” and “On state youth policy” will come into force on January 1, 2025.