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FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF MUNICIPAL HOUSING STOCK MANAGEMENT IN POLAND

Andrzej Muczynski

Abstract

Public housing system in Poland is based on a local government-dominated social rented sector in which the social landlords' functions are mainly filled by municipalities and their organizational units. One of the most important fields of municipal housing management is financial management which includes the whole issues and financial problems occurring in all life cycle phases of these stocks, including construction and acquisition of housing estates, maintenance and renovation of existing stock as well as their demolition or disposition. Priorities of financial management in the private rented sector are related to the financing of investment in real estate, so that management activities are performed from the viewpoint of capital investment with the goal of optimization of return, risk and liquidity stemming from real estate investment. However, in the social rented sector financial priorities are significantly determined by the social aspects of this type asset's management that are connected with effective providing and efficient letting of decent, affordable dwellings for special target groups. The paper presents some of the financial problems of municipal housing stock management in Poland. The main objective of this work is to analyze and assess the financial situation of the municipal housing stock management on the example of a chosen urban community in Poland. Detailed empirical studies are related to the analysis of dynamics and structure of revenues and maintenance costs of the municipal housing stock of the city of Olsztyn in 2012-2016. The empirical study confirmed the deteriorating financial situation of the MHS despite an increase in communal rents and introduction of the possibility to reduce of them for poorest tenants as a result of the rent policy reform at the beginning of the period. This trend is a consequence of a decrease in revenues in the MHS due to accelerated sales of municipal housing to most affluent tenants, as well as an increase in rent arrears and maintenance costs of the surveyed housing stock over time. The improvement of the financial situation of the MHS in the long-term requires a wide restructuring of the existing housing management system in accordance with the basic principles of New Public Management.

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