Home grant awarded to 356 large families

This year, 356 families raising three or more children received a home grant from KredEx—there are altogether 1261 children growing in these families. The total sum of the grants allocated this year was EUR 3.2 million.

The biggest grant volume is EUR 8,000, whereas upon repeated grant, EUR 5,000. This year, the average amount of grants allocated to families was EUR 7,352. Upon proposal of the assessment committee, bigger amount of grant may be allocated to families, whose living conditions need substantial improvement. This year, there were 9 such grants, the biggest of which amounted to a maximum of EUR 14,000. The largest number of recipients are living in Ida-Viru County (57), Harju County (51) and Võru County (35).

“The goal of this government is to work towards establishing a stronger, more equal and considerate Estonia. Also, the economic growth must reach every person in Estonia. The 500-euro grant for large families as well as the previously mentioned home grant are designed to fulfil this goal,” said Urve Palo, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology.

In the families that received the grant, the average monthly taxable income per household member was EUR 147.90 in 2016. There were also 13 families whose taxable income per household member was EUR 0 in 2016. The biggest families have 7 children and 13 of the families that received the grant have 6 children. There were also 31 families with five children, 80 families with four children, and 229 families with three children among the grant recipients.

According to Triin Reinsalu, the head of Housing and Energy Efficiency Division at KredEx, with the grant it is possible to significantly modernise one’s living conditions and in some cases also change the even uninhabitable spaces into homes. “Since 2008, the living conditions of close to 10,000 children have been improved with the home grant for large families. This year, we also allocated additional grant to 9 families, since their homes lacked even the most basic living conditions. The works carried out with the help of grant enable to increase the living quality of families and make the living environment of children notably better,” Reinsalu said.

Most often, grants are issued for renovations (226 cases). 120 families were awarded grants for purchasing a home and 10 families for purchasing as well as renovating.

It is a non-refundable state grant intended for the improvement and modernisation of the living conditions of large families. Applications may be submitted by families with at least three children aged up to 19 years, in which the taxable income per household member for the previous year did not exceed EUR 355 per month.

The condition of the applicants’ housing was assessed by a committee including representatives of KredEx, the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Estonian Association of Large Families.