Indicator history

In 2008, Habitat for Humanity launched a project called Habitat Romanes. The project included the building of houses for Roma families in Oradea (North-West of the country) who were living in dire conditions, using Habitat techniques and methods. The actual work for building the houses was undertaken by volunteers (some of them VIPs) and by the people who were going to live in the houses themselves. [1]

In 2008, the Romanian Government adopted Decision 1.237/2008 for the approval of a pilot programme aiming at building a “maximum of 300 houses” for the Roma. The Ministry in charge of housing is responsible for the building of the houses while local administration is in charge with the infrastructure and utilities. The Decision does not include an obligation to build the houses in mixed areas so as to avoid segregation and there is not time limit.[2] Yet, in a proposal for the Cordoba Summit in 2010, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that, for 2010, there was a plan to build 301 houses, pending funding being secured from the state budget. No further data is publicly available. [3]

Sources:

1. Delia-Luiza Niţă (Center for Legal Resources), Housing Conditions of Roma and Travellers, Romania, March 2009, p. 44, available at: http://www.crj.ro/Housing-Conditions-of-Roma-and-Travellers/ (last accessed:20.02.2012)

2. Romanian Government Decision 1.237/2008 for the approval of the pilot programme: “Social houses for the Roma”.

3. Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposal for the Cordoba Summit, discussed within the Chamber of Deputies sub-commission on the Roma, 30.03.2010, available at:http://www.cdep.ro/co/docs/F1533597431/Propunere%20MAE%20Summit%20Cordoba.pdf (last accessed: 20.02.2012)