Although the increasing reliance on tenant-financed housing is helping to reduce the overall housing shortage, it has meant that most new housing units are built for the higher income groups. Cooperative apartments and private houses require a substantial initial investment and the assumption of a mortgage, which are beyond the means of most blue-collar and low-income white-collar workers. These groups continue to rely on state-financed or industry-financed low-rent housing, which usually has long waiting lists of prospective tenants. In order to free more of the low-rent housing for those who cannot pay for a private home, persons owning a second home or intending to build one are being asked to vacate their state-supplied housing. In 1973 the per capita area of usable housing space was 124 square feet. New dwelling units constructed under the Sixth Five-Year Plan were to have an average of 857 square feet each; those constructed during the following Seventh Five-Year Plan (1976-80) will have an average of 911 square feet each. Inasmuch as possible, all new housing units constructed before 1975 will be equipped with running water, electricity, sewage disposal facilities, and central heat. After 1976 such amenities will be mandatory. In the mid-1960s, the latest date available, 30.7 percent of all housing units had running water, 94.7 percent had electricity, 32.7 percent had sewage disposal facilities, and 1.5 percent had central heat. The availability of these amenities in housing units varied a great deal among the different social groups of the population (see table 5). _Table 5. Bulgaria, Percentage of Housing Units Equipped with Various Amenities, December 1965_ ----------------------+---------+-------------+------------+--------- | | | Sewage | | Running | | Disposal | Central | Water | Electricity | Facilities | Heat ----------------------+---------+-------------+------------+--------- _Households_: | | | | Blue collar | 29.0 | 95.2 | 32.7 | 0.8 White collar | 72.6 | 99.3 | 73.0 | 4.9 Cooperative farm | 6.5 | 91.6 | 7.2 | 0.0 Cooperative artisan | 37.1 | 98.4 | 40.2 | 0.2 Other | 54.0 | 96.5 | 56.7 | 2.9 | | | | ALL HOUSING | 30.7 | 94.7 | 32.7 | 1.4 ----------------------+---------|-------------+------------+--------- Source: Adapted from U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Technical Services, Joint Publications Research Service--JPRS (Washington), _Translations on Eastern Europe: Political, Sociological, and Military Affairs_, "Aspects of Standard of Living Analyzed," (JPRS 48,717, No. 126, 1969). SOCIAL BENEFITS