Bauska Street explosion exposes legal gap, prompting push to extend temporary housing aid

The Saeima's Public Administration and Local Government Committee approved on Tuesday, September 8, moving forward a bill to amend the law "On Assistance in Resolving Housing Issues." The goal is to let municipalities support residents longer when an apartment building or part of it becomes unusable and cannot be restored within a year.

Current one-year limit falls short

Under existing law, a municipality must provide a person with temporary housing only until their home is restored, and for no longer than one year. Experience has shown this period is often insufficient, since technical inspection of a building, design work, securing funding, procurement procedures and the actual restoration work can take several years.

Proposal to extend support to five years

Under the draft law, when a multi-apartment building or part of it is fully taken out of use and cannot be restored within a year, the municipality would have to provide temporary housing to affected residents for up to five years, until the building or its part becomes usable again.

Triggered by the Bauska Street explosion

The initiative followed a review of problems that surfaced after an explosion on January 2, 2026, at an apartment building at Bauskas iela 15 in Riga. Riga's municipal experience showed that the current one-year deadline is sometimes not enough to complete a building's restoration and allow residents to return home.

Committee chairman Oļegs Burovs stressed that the state and municipalities must be able to help people forced to leave their homes due to an accident, and that when restoration drags on, people should not be left without support.

The committee decided to send the bill for consideration at the Saeima's September 10 sitting.