Editorial Ta Nea: Youth encouragement and incentives

The initiative to offer incentives and encourage measures for young couples to find housing was confirmed by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the OT (Oikonomikos Tachydromos) forum.

High rents and the successive crises that Greece has confronted for over a decade make it very difficult for young people to move out of their parents’ homes to begin a new life.

The factors that impede social mobility and the ability to create self-sufficient families are even more painful.

This backdrop and the combination of the energy crisis and inflation is a mix that is keeping our younger generations down and demonstrates the major problems relating to social cohesion and social reproduction.

The government’s plan to assist the younger generation must take all of the above parameters into account and must be swiftly implemented with the establishment of the so-called “social residence”, with incentives and rent subsidies but also by reining in price gouging by real estate agents.

A number of European countries, such as Portugal, are already adopting similar strategies that have helped curb the brain drain among well-educated members of the younger generation.

Along with encouraging inexpensive housing, the government’s initiatives can create a new impetus and dynamic for large cities. The two are linked and can constitute a critical reform that will impact on the daily lives and purchasing power of citizens.