Like much of the country, Ljubljana is in dire need of affordable rental housing. That need will be alleviated a little with 88 new non-profit rental flats inaugurated on 18 April.

The apartments are located in a new housing estate in Zelena Jama, near the BTC shopping district and the Ljubljana central cemetery, featuring a total of 157 flats.

The municipal public housing fund purchased 80 apartments and 73 parking spaces and acquired another eight apartments and five parking spaces through a swap contract. Most of the units already have new residents.

The Ljubljana Housing Fund now has 4,666 housing units with new projects under way. "By 2045, the capital could have some 6,000 new housing units, which would bring the total number to more than 10,000," the fund's director Sašo Rink said.

The fund has recently assessed that the capital is short of some 4,000 non-profit rental apartments.

Going forward, the biggest problem will be the financing of projects, where Rink is counting on the help from the Ministry for Solidarity-Based Future and the state.

The ministry's State Secretary Klemen Ploštajner said the Ljubljana Housing Fund has obtained €4.9 million in grants from the recovery and resilience plan and a loan from the National Housing Fund for this project.

"The state and the local community are on the same side. It doesn't matter who is the builder, it's important that people get a home to live in," Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković said at the ceremony.

He believes housing prices could decrease within a few years if three conditions are met: if a cap is put on short-term rentals through platforms such as Airbnb, if more student beds are provided to reduce the pressure on private housing from students, and if more new apartments are built.

The Zelena Jama apartments were built by Gitri from the Krško-based Kostak group, which presented a donation of €10,000 to an association helping the homeless at the end of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.