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Prague Property

Unclear deals mire social complex

Empty Prague 10 building claims to house rent defaulters

By Wency Leung
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
December 10th, 2008 issue

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post

Radek Luňák, director of Program Bydlení, makes conflicting statements about his company's part in the operations of the 7 domky complex.

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post

The Prague 10 compound has stood empty for more than two years, despite claims that the building has fulfilled its original purpose.

Zuzana Pokorná doesn’t like to discuss the empty, gray social-housing complex around the corner from her house. It puts her in a foul mood, she says.

Once prompted, however, the Prague 10–Bohdalec resident can’t contain her outrage at the district officials who decided to build it. “It makes me angry. … It’s useless to build something like that and leave it empty,” she says. “It’s a waste of money.”

The gated, concrete complex of 7 domky, which neighboring residents have nicknamed “the prison,” has been unused since it was built more than two and a half years ago, but this month, Prague 10 authorities say new tenants are finally moving in.

As part of a district-wide crackdown on rent defaulters living in council flats, Prague 10 officials say they have begun relocating repeat nonpayers to the 7 domky compound on Bohdalec’s Sedmidomky street. However, contrary to officials’ claims, visits to the site revealed that 7 Domky remains unoccupied, with the exception of a lone security guard, who says he had been guarding the place for about two and a half years.

Meanwhile, the company contracted by the district to organize the relocation and administer the complex was unable to answer key questions about the project, including how it acquired the contract.

According to the district’s plan, rent defaulters who acknowledge their debts are offered housing at 7 domky at regular, regulated rates, said district spokesman Jan Charvát. “If [they are able] to pay rent for two consecutive years, showing that they succeeded in stabilizing both their financial and social situation, they will be offered a new rental contract for a municipal flat, virtually giving them a clean slate.”

The council flats they vacate would then be freed for other people in need of social assistance or granted to the highest bidder for the first month’s rent, he said.

Program Bydlení, the company contracted to run the program, said it will receive a 70 percent cut of any profit made from successful bids on the vacant council flats once the district recoups defaulters’ debts from the bidding process. As well, rent paid by the relocated defaulters at 7 domky will go directly to the company.

So far, 14 of the total 58 units at 7 domky have already been rented to the first wave of defaulters, Charvát said. Prague 10 Deputy Mayor Bohumil Zoufalík has also been cited in local media in recent weeks as saying the first group of tenants has moved in.

Asked why the site remains vacant, however, Charvát later explained that the contracts for 14 units have been signed and tenants should be moving in any day. He added that the building “wasn’t empty that long. We were waiting for our operation program on how to ‘fight’ the debts to be finished and polished before we could start using the building.”

Neighbors, however, say they have heard so many different plans for the empty complex over the years, some are skeptical that anyone will actually move in. “As you have seen for yourself, there is not a single family there,” said neighboring resident Věra Dvořáková. “So what is this about?”

Dvořáková, who has lived in the area for 25 years, says she and her neighbors had initially heard the complex was slated for refugees when it was first built. Then, they heard it would house single mothers and their children. Later still, they heard it would house disabled tenants.

This latest plan for the complex is alarming, Dvořáková said, noting that authorities never sought input from the neighborhood about relocating rent defaulters there. “We are very worried because we don’t know what the potential residents will be like,” Dvořáková said.

“If you think about it, we have quite a good location here,” she added, referring to the quaint townhouses with private gardens and the local park adjacent to the complex. “The way it looks … doesn’t fit the neighborhood.”

Down the street, Pokorná said families with young children are particularly worried. “If some kind of prisoners or criminals moved here, what would we do?” she said. “It’s enough when someone says ‘nonpayers’ [will move in]. It seems like a nightmare.”

Charvát dismissed such fears, and maintained that the complex was never intended for any but the current purpose, rejecting neighbors’ claims as “pure disinformation.” “We are not worried about turning the location into a ghetto. Any sane person who has actually visited the area knows that location is already in a very bad state,” he said, noting that the complex would be under round-the-clock security, and metro police would increase patrols of the area.

According to Radek Luňák, director of Program Bydlení, one of the 58 units at 7 domky will even be used to house a police post. On a tour through the facility, Luňák showed reporters the sterile, bright, modern units, ranging from 20 square meters to 35 square meters.

Luňák said his 1-year-old company had only taken over the complex Nov. 15, yet he acknowledged that the security guard who had been working there for two and a half years is an employee of Program Bydlení.

Program Bydlení has an open-ended contract with the district and receives money only through resolving cases of repeat rent defaulters, not through fees charged to the district itself, Luňák said. “It is in our interest to get as much money as we can from the debtors of Prague 10.”

However, Luňák said he did not know how his company was awarded the contract, initially claiming he only joined the company a month ago. According to the Justice Ministry’s business registry, Luňák has been a member of Program Bydlení’s board of directors since Nov. 14, 2007. Confronted, Luňák later said he had been there for a year.

Luňák said he also did not know who built 7 domky, nor who took care of the complex before Program Bydlení took over. Although he is also chairman of his company, he was unable to provide contacts for anyone within Program Bydlení who could answer these questions, referring reporters to the district.

After some initial confusion, Charvát said the company was chosen through an open bid, but, as of press time, he did not have details about the bidding process or the companies that submitted bids. He said the facility was built by the construction division of the Navatyp Group for 55 million Kč.

In the meantime, disgruntled neighbors say they feel powerless over the district’s plans for the site. It is pointless to make complaints against the authorities, Pokorná said. “They do what they want, and they don’t care.”

— Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

Wency Leung can be reached at wleung@praguepost.com

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