Representatives of the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations in charge of monitoring the position of Roma in Serbia, Marta Garcia Fidalgo and Konstantinos Niafas, paid a visit today to beneficiaries of the Let’s Build a Home Together project, funded by the EU with EUR3.6 million, who have been offered durable housing solutions. The visit took place within the fourth Seminar on social inclusion of Roma, organised jointly by the Government of Serbia and the European Commission.
Within the project Let’s Build a Home Together, housing solutions have been provided for 110 Roma families that had previously been living in temporary settlements across Belgrade. As a result, 59 families have moved to three social housing apartment buildings, 41 families have moved to rural households and 10 families have been assisted in reconstructing their dwellings over the course of the project which ran from February 2013 to May 2016.
During their visit to families in Zemun Polje and Mislodjin, the representatives of the European Commission Mission expressed satisfaction with living conditions created for beneficiaries through social housing or assistance aimed at reconstruction and building of houses. Kasumi, Selimovic and Isljami families told them not only about a vast difference between their previous and current housing conditions, but also about other forms of systemic support they receive, highlighting adult education as particularly important.
The second phase of the project, which kicked off in March 2017, will contribute to improving housing conditions for another 44 Roma families. The European Union has allocated EUR1.5 million for construction of 22-apartment building and purchase of rural households for another 22 families. The project runs through February 2019 and is implemented by the UN Office for Project Services in cooperation with the City of Belgrade.
