Vilnius ends rent aid in drug crackdown, affecting uninvolved tenants

Vilnius authorities have stopped rent-cost compensation for residents of apartment buildings identified as drug-related trouble spots, a decision that has affected people who are not suspected of wrongdoing, LRT reported.

Residents of Markučiai, a Vilnius neighbourhood, had complained about drug sellers and users consuming substances near where they bought them, walking around under the influence or lying in bus stops. Police said raids and increased patrols had helped stabilise the situation, but residents said the problems persisted.

In a letter to the municipal housing company Vilniaus miesto būstas on July 20, police said police measures alone were unlikely to bring lasting improvement. They proposed withholding rent-cost compensation from new tenants in specific apartment buildings and finding them other housing.

On July 22, Vilniaus miesto būstas stopped compensation payments to existing tenants, effective retroactively from July 20. The Vilnius municipality said the decision affected four people. The company said it did not know whether they were involved in criminal activity.

Lawyer Eglė Latauskienė, who represents one of the affected tenants, said her 68-year-old client has cancer and was not personally notified that her compensation had been stopped. She said the woman has no connection to drug use or dealing and must now pay the full rent from her pension. The lawyer has taken the case to court.

Romų visuomenės centras director Svetlana Novopolskaja called the decision collective punishment, saying people who had committed no offences had also lost support. Police said they had proposed solutions based on individual circumstances. The municipality suggested some homes may have been used for criminal activity, although the police letter did not say so.

Criminologists said offences are generally punished with prison sentences or fines, while people who use drugs are encouraged to seek treatment because addiction is an illness. They described cutting rent compensation as an unprecedented punitive measure.