Moreover, the fund, set up under the housing law to encourage the construction and renovation of flats and houses, plans to operate 10,000 flats until 2050.

The fund was established to create the best conditions to secure enough quality housing, facilitating housing access especially for the young and young families.

Apart from the planned new developments, the fund plans to invest EUR 30m to co-fund flats for rent in 2016-2020, thus securing up to 500 new flats.

In 2017-2020, up to 250 flats are to be secured for the elderly, with the fund chipping in EUR 15m.

Another EUR 15m will be earmarked to purchase flats, other housing units and land around Slovenia to build blocks of flats.

Remec highlighted several of the fund's developments, especially in Ljubljana, where demand is very high and rising.

He said the last four blocks of flats had been completed in the Zeleni Gaj development in the Brdo borough, where construction started 13 years ago.

As a result, 102 flats had been recently offered for rent, and first new tenants will start moving in in February.

According to Remec, the fund managed to optimize the costs so that a square metre of flat was built for only around EUR 1,600.

Given the high demand, the fund and the Ljubljana Housing Fund have joined forced to develop Novo Brdo, which will offer almost 700 flats, said Remec.

The new development, whose construction is planned to start in summer, was welcomed by Mayor Zoran Janković, saying the city can address such high demand only in cooperation with the national housing fund.

He said that in the latest call for applications the municipal housing fund had received as many as 3,200 applications for only 350 flats.

Today's ceremony at Grand Hotel Union was also attended by Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planing Irena Majcen, who said the ministry would like the housing policy to result in securing enough flats for rent or sale, thus striking a balance between offer and demand on the housing market.

She said the ministry would like to improve housing accessibility, also by channelling more financial aid to those who cannot pay the rent themselves.