Beneficiaries of the “Guaranteed Minimum Income” are excluded from its payment due to an increase in the objective value of their property

The Social Service of SolidarityNow’s Athens Solidarity Center observes an increase in people visiting the Center in an effort to understand why they are no longer entitled to financial support through the “Minimum Guaranteed Income” (MGI) program.

The MGI is a unique source of income for hundreds of thousands of Greek citizens and foreigners living in Greece, below the poverty line. The beneficiaries of this aid are determined by income and other property criteria, which have been determined on the basis of its fairest possible distribution.

In practice, however, it can be observed that sometimes decisions concerning general economic policy and indirectly leading to the redefinition of the presumptions of subsistence exclude from the MGI individuals and families whose real economic situation does not justify this exclusion.

Such an example is the recent redefinition of the objective values of real estate and their increase, especially in neighborhoods of the center of Athens. Due to this development, MGI beneficiaries, who are beneficiaries of SolidarityNow’s Solidarity Center in Athens, are excluded from its payment, due to the increase in the objective value of their property, in which they live.

A typical case is the case of a Center’s beneficiary, whose objective apartment value was increased from 60,000 to 115,000 euros, thus far exceeding the limit of 90,000 established for the MGI. This woman has no other income, she is over 55 years old and faces health problems, which make the payment of the Minimum Guaranteed Income literally a matter of survival.

Finally, it is worth noting that this development does not concern only MGI, as this property limit is applied to determine the beneficiaries and other social benefits, such as the pension of uninsured elderly people, etc.