The Tenants’ Association of Montenegro warned that the country’s housing crisis had become a deep demographic and social catastrophe. It is working to form a national register of tenants and young families without a resolved housing situation, and plans to strengthen the KROV civic movement.
The association said housing insecurity extends beyond traditional tenants to thousands of young couples, young people and new families. Without secure and affordable housing, it said, they lack prospects for building a life in Montenegro.
High apartment prices and rents are leading young people to delay starting families or seek a future outside the country, according to the group, which expects housing costs to rise further. Young couples and other citizens also face long-term loans, high down payments and interest rates.
The association attributed high rents and property prices to decades of financing other people’s profits, construction monopolies and speculative interests, while the state does not respond. It said there are more than 70,000 empty and unused apartments in Montenegro, alleging that they are used for money laundering and to enrich individuals.
Tenants and young people together account for more than 10% of the electorate, the association said, describing them as a political and social force that government and institutions can no longer ignore. It called on them to make their housing concerns heard through the register and collective action.
Association President Dragan Živković said: “Housing must be recognised as a basic human right, not a means of enriching a privileged minority.” He also said a roof over one’s head was not a luxury, but a basic right and the foundation of a stable family.
Živković said what he described as a wild property market was pushing citizens and young people to the edge of subsistence. He urged tenants, young families, young people, parents and concerned citizens to join forces to defend the right to a home.
The KROV movement aims to pursue systemic solutions to the housing crisis, build social housing and restore prospects for young people in Montenegro. The association called on tenants, young couples and all citizens with housing problems to join the register and the common effort for social justice and the right to a home.
