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The state shall allocate a total of 35 million kroons of home grants for families with four or more children. The average grant amount is 100,181 kroons, the largest number of applications was satisfied from Ida-Virumaa (36), Tartumaa (36) and Viljandimaa (28). In total, KredEx received 758 applications in total amount of 73.3 million kroons. “Until today, more than a thousand families have already received home grants for families with many children”, said Juhan Parts, Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications. “Until now the grant was programme-based, but it would make sense to legalize it and expand also to families with three children”, the Minister added. In the families that shall receive grants, the average taxable income in years 2008 and 2009 per one family member was 198,66 kroons per month, the average number of children per family is 4,9 and they live in 3-room premises with the size of 47,1 m². The recipients of grant also include 14 families, whose average taxable income in years 2008 and 2009 was 0 kroons. The largest families (in Pärnu county and Tartu) have ten up to 19-year-old children. A 5-member committee evaluated the state of the applicants’ living premises, including the representatives of KredEx, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the Union Large Families of Estonia. According to Mirja Adler, head of the Housing Division of KredEx, by evaluation of applications it became evident that the state of living premises of large families is very different. “There are families that have bought a beautiful home or renovated the existing one with the help of housing loan, but also families in very difficult living conditions – no water in the household, premises are very small and there are no means for renovation”, Mirja Adler said. “We hope the grant is of big help in renovation or expansion of living premises, and that thereby the living conditions of 1,352 children will be significantly improved”, Adler added. All applicants shall receive letters regarding the decision, and agreements shall be concluded with families with a positive decision for using the grant. A national non-returnable grant allocated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is meant for families with at least four up to 19-year-old children, whose income per one member of the household is up to 4,350 kroons during the income declarations of the past 2 years. The state supports the execution of projects that are aimed at improving the housing conditions in the range of 90–100% of the total cost of the project. The goal of the grant is to improve and modernise the living conditions of families with four or more children, and to decrease social ostracision. Previously, as a result of application rounds in years 2008 and 2009, 759 families have been supported with a total number of almost 4000 children. In addition to 35 million kroons allocated in this year, the improvement of housing conditions of large families have been supported with 119.2 million kroons in previous years.
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