In the suburban settlement “Beranovac” near Kraljevo, the families are being evicted from the social housing apartments, which were built in order to find a durable and sustainable housing solution for the internally displaced persons from Kosovo.
It should be noted that after the expiry of the three-year period during which the internally displaced persons, former residents of collective centres, had lived in the social housing apartments in Kraljevo for free, paying only the costs of electricity and utility services, the Municipal Housing Agency in Kraljevo prescribed new conditions, unacceptable for the majority of the families. One of the requirements for concluding a new contract on apartment use was that the tenants of these apartments had to provide a minimum of 75 euros (in RSD equivalent) per household member. The offered contracts envisaged a monthly rental in the amount of 1.20 euros per square metre, which was unattainable for retired persons, beneficiaries of social allowance or temporary allowance for unemployed persons from Kosovo, and for the tenants without any income. For refusing to accept the unfavourable contractual conditions, in 2013 the Municipal Housing Agency sued 33 families requesting their eviction. The recent court decision was unfavourable for these families and their eviction from the social housing apartments is ongoing. The tenants, including children, the elderly and sick, have not been provided with alternative solution and are at risk of becoming homeless.
Determination of new, unfavourable conditions for the use of social housing apartments was not done with prior consultations with tenants in order to find a solution that would respect their needs and prevent the conduct of lengthy court proceedings.
Finally, we draw attention to the fact that consultations with citizens is a requirement in the process of public administration reform and a key element of good governance, and good governance is a prerequisite for respecting human rights.
For more information, see the announcement at the following link.
