In Poland, there is a growing number of people who cannot afford to pay their rent or buy their own flat. High inflation as well as the war in Ukraine are the main factors.

For context, a two-person flat to rent in Warsaw costs around 3,300zł (or €735) a month at the moment. However, the gross minimum wage before tax is currently 3,490zł gross (€778). 

“A lot of apartments available on the market for rent are priced higher than the income that the tenants can provide. So, the actual problem is that a lot of them cannot afford both to feed their families and to pay the rent. So, in a normal situation, the government would step in with some offer of social housing,” Zenobia Zaczek, from the Polish Committee for the Protection of Tenants' Rights, explained to Euronews.

Zaczek added: “The problem is that many of them simply do not qualify [for] social housing and they cannot afford housing on the private market.” 

Poland’s Ministry of Economic Development, Waldemar Buda, pointed out that high housing prices reflected the general trend of rising prices around the world. He added: “If we have an average inflation of 14% in 2022, it would be difficult for similar factors that affect this entire inflation basket not to affect property prices as well.”