Czech army offers soldiers subsidized rental apartments

The Czech Ministry of Defence has started giving soldiers apartments at subsidized rent — a new perk meant to stop the outflow of personnel from the garrisons in Jince, Strakonice, Jindřichův Hradec and Žatec. NATO factors these units into its defence plans against Russia, yet they are chronically understaffed.

Apartments instead of dormitories

Besides the stabilization bonus, which starts at 100,000 crowns and is already being paid out in these garrisons, military leadership and the General Staff are also betting on rental housing. According to Deputy Chief of the General Staff General Pavel Lipka, who is responsible for infrastructure, the army is taking cues from other professions — doctors, for instance, whom the state helps with housing. The army used to have apartments in nearly every garrison, up to a hundred of them, but lost them for good in the past.

The General Staff returned to the idea of apartments for soldiers about two years ago and now has more than a hundred apartments across the country. Housing can go, for example, to young soldiers who are turned down for mortgages, or to those serving far from home who don't want to buy a second property, pay for two commercial rentals, or live in a dormitory. A special commission selects candidates in each garrison.

How the army acquires housing

The Ministry of Defence gets apartments two ways: either buying them directly, or signing agreements with towns that set aside part of their municipal housing stock for the army at reduced rent. The army signed its first such memorandum last year with the North Bohemian town of Žatec, home to the command of the 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade and one of its mechanized battalions.

Žatec Mayor Radim Laibl (ANO) sees the cooperation as a success and is preparing to hand over several more municipal apartments in two buildings currently under renovation. “It benefits both sides. We want soldiers not just to come here for work, but to register permanently, live here with their families and use local services,” he explains.

Long commutes to work are the military's biggest headache. A 2022 Ministry of Defence survey on reasons for leaving the service found that commuting costs were cited as the decisive factor by 42% of the soldiers surveyed — more than any other reason. In practice, this means some soldiers from Moravia commute to serve in Bohemia, racking up hundreds of kilometres and spending part of the week living in a dormitory. The army wants to offer them housing too — including “1+1” and “2+1” layout apartments, since living in a dormitory with shared facilities is a different matter from having a rental of one's own, Lipka notes.

A 76-apartment building in Jince

The army has now signed, or is preparing to sign, 22 memoranda of cooperation with municipalities — including Rokycany, Příbram, Čáslav, Vrdy and Jince. In Jince, the army recently bought an entire apartment building with 76 units: soldiers will move in after the New Year, and the building, according to General Lipka, is already 70% filled.

It was an unfinished development project originally meant for other purposes. The army stepped in while the layout could still be reworked into compact starter housing for young soldiers — to attract new people to the Jince garrison and strengthen its ranks. The Ministry of Defence paid 274.4 million crowns for the building, and rent for soldiers will run about 5,000–8,000 crowns a month depending on the apartment's size, plus energy costs. According to Lipka, the ministry has earmarked a further several hundred million crowns for buying apartments in coming years, and some projects could appear as early as next year — where it makes sense, the army plans to join development projects already underway.

Read also: Mortgage in Czechia for foreigners: who qualifies and how much of your own money you need

Source: seznamzpravy.cz