Šumavská Modrava wants to build municipal family houses

Modrava (Klatovsko) - The municipality of Modrava in Šumava plans to build approximately 24 municipal apartments in houses, duplexes, and single-family homes. They will fund this from their own budget. They can afford it, as they receive millions of crowns in taxes from several wealthy citizens, primarily billionaire Zdeněk Bakala. The town hall expects to gradually attract permanent residents and double their number to around 150. The first houses are expected to begin construction and be completed next year, said mayor Antonín Schubert to ČTK.
    This year's budget for Modrava is 56 million crowns, much more than other comparably sized municipalities. Schubert estimated that the average costs for one apartment could range between two and two and a half million crowns.
    "Many workers commute to the municipality from the surrounding area; there is a high demand for employees, but also a very low supply of housing," he stated. Therefore, the municipality wants to offer housing to people who would move in permanently with their families. They are not interested in building residential or seasonal municipal apartments, but apartments for permanent residency.
    "The zoning decision for the first family house is already being discussed; next year, more should start being built," said the mayor. Around ten single-family houses are expected to be gradually created, while the remaining planned apartments should be in one or two apartment buildings and duplexes.
    Housing support is not the only thing Modrava offers to permanent residents. They provide subsidies for heating, for the birth of a child, for transportation, and so on. This has led to a great interest in housing in Modrava. Scientists and molecular physicists, as well as people who work in the vicinity - waiters, servers, cooks, woodworkers, drivers, and teachers - want to live in the municipality, the mayor stated. However, he pointed out that life in the municipality is not easy.
    "People need to realize that everything is far away - schools, interest groups, doctors, pharmacies, stores," he listed. According to him, the nearest somewhat larger "civilization" is the town of Kašperské Hory, 25 kilometers away, and Sušice is another ten kilometers further. Modrava's children travel ten kilometers to the primary school in Srní, and for the secondary school, they go to Kašperské Hory or Sušice.