avings accounts. During the 1968-70
period approximately one-third of the new housing units made available
were financed entirely by state funds, another one-third were financed
entirely by private funds, and the last one-third were financed by
private funds with the aid of loans from state sources. State
enterprises are instructed to grant their employees interest-free,
fifteen-year mortgages for the purchase of an apartment or house. Up to
4,000 leva can be borrowed for this purpose in urban areas and up to
3,000 leva in rural areas. This, however, covers less than one-half of
the cost of a two-room apartment.

Although the increasing reliance on tenant-financed housing is helping
to reduce the overall housing shortage, it has meant that most new
housing units are built for the higher income groups. Cooperative
apartments and private houses require a substantial initial investment
and the assumption of a mortgage, which are beyond the means of most
blue-collar and low-income white-collar workers. These groups continue
to rely on state-financed or industry-financed low-rent housing, which
usually has long waiting lists of prospective tenants. In order to free
more of the low-rent housing for those who cannot pay for a private
home, persons owning a second home or intending to build one are being
asked to vacate their state-supplied housing.

In 1973 the per capita area of usable housing space was 124 square feet.
New dwelling units constructed under the Sixth Five-Year Plan were to
have an average of 857 square feet each; those constructed during the
following Seventh Five-Year Plan (1976-80) will have an average of 911
square feet each. Inasmuch as possible, all new housing units
constructed before 1975 will be equipped with running water,
electricity, sewage disposal facilities, and central heat. After 1976
such amenities will be mandatory. In the mid-1960s, the latest date
available, 30.7 percent of all housing units had running water, 94.7
percent had electricity, 32.7 percent had sewage disposal facilities,
and 1.5 percent had central heat. The availability of these amenities in
housing units varied a great deal among the different social groups of
the population (see table 5).

_Table 5. Bulgaria, Percentage of Housing Units Equipped with Various
Amenities, December 1965_

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