Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport and representatives of the City of Belgrade presented the keys and contracts for the use of 32 social housing apartments to Roma families.
The apartments, which vary in size, are located in Mislodjin in the municipality of Obrenovac. Roma families are entitled to lifelong use of these apartments, following their eviction from “Belville” and “Gazela” settlements in Belgrade as well as prefabricated houses in Makis, Resnik, Kijevo and Jabucki rit.
Two buildings in Mislodjin, housing 32 Roma families, have been built thanks to the EU donation worth EUR575,000 within the time frame of 200 days. The City of Belgrade, for its part, provided the building permits, construction site cleaning, construction site planning and infrastructure.
During the ceremony, Davenport addressed the new residents in Romani and congratulated them the forthcoming slava Djurdjevdan.
Photo: UNOPS
He said the apartments have been constructed in the framework of the “Let’s build a home together” Project within which housing solutions have thus far been provided for 110 Roma families, that is 512 family members.
According to him, the City of Belgrade has a special obligation to find housing solutions for all residents from informal settlements and the EU will do its best to help in finding housing solutions not only for Roma, but also any other vulnerable group.
“The EU funds the Project with EUR3.6 million in cooperation with the City. This is the primary reason why the EU decided to fund the continuation of the Project and provide additional 50 families with safe and secure roof over their heads,” Davenport said.
Secretary of the Secretariat for social welfare of the City of Belgrade Natasa Stanisavljevic said that taking care of Roma families evicted from “Belville” and “Gazela” was the project of utmost importance for the City.
“Last year, we took care of over 110 Roma families. In 2015, 12 families were given apartments in Zvezdara, 15 families were settled in Jabucki rit in Palilula and today, 32 families are starting their lives in Obrenovac,” Stanisavljevic said.
President of National council of Roma national minority Vitomir Mihajlovic said that those families had come a long and arduous way before receiving keys to new apartments, but were equally worth of the same living conditions enjoyed by any other citizen of Serbia.
Photo: FoNet
