Debrecen4U July 7, 2025

Mayor Dr. László Papp’s response letter

Mayor Dr. László Papp’s response to Dr. Mihály Dombi’s open letter.

Dear Dr. Mihály Dombi,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and suggestions on housing issues with me! I am pleased to see that the citizens of our city want to actively participate in discussing important issues affecting the future of Debrecen.

The Debrecen city government handles the issue of housing responsibly, with substantive measures, through specific programmes and regulatory decisions. Among other things, it encourages the construction of new apartments by creating more favourable development opportunities and by launching the Főnix Housing Programme, which is unique in the country.

Our mission is to create a predictable future, a secure livelihood, and an affordable home for the young people of Debrecen. Therefore, the goal of our urban development programme is to support young people from Debrecen who are starting their careers in both job creation and housing so that they can find their future in Debrecen.

We are convinced that substantive dialogue and the clash of different opinions are essential for the functioning of an open and democratic city. However, it is important to emphasise that the public forums of the city of Debrecen have an institutionalised, democratic order, which ensures the free, regulated, efficient, and transparent discussion of opinions. The most important arena for this is the city assembly, which is not only a decision-making body but also a forum for public debate. At the meetings of the assembly, I regularly respond to questions and comments from both local government representatives and citizens, as I have done in your case on several occasions.

We have studied your proposal for a housing agency, and our opinion is that while it has elements to consider, an adaptation in Debrecen of a programme that is not effective in the capital city either is not workable based on the available information. The general assembly of Debrecen unanimously adopted the proposal regarding the Főnix Housing Programme, which obliges the city government to use all means to assist its successful implementation. It will be possible to draw a balance on the experiences of the programme after the closing of the application procedures.

I would like to confirm that we are open to any proposal that serves the development of Debrecen and contributes to making our city even more livable and sustainable. We certainly share the same goals in this!

Debrecen, July 7, 2025

Sincerely,

Dr. László Papp

Source:debrecen.hu |Photo credit: DMJV