Roma Policy Lab presents: „Work in the community does not have exact start and end dates”

At the end of February 2022, we visited the Lozenetz neighbourhood in Stara Zagora – one of the largest Roma neighbourhoods in Bulgaria. From Roma Policy Lab we want to know what is happening in the neighbourhood after the end of the project – Advocacy campaign for social housing and residential land in the municipalities of Stara Zagora, Plovdiv and Maritsa, funded by the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria more than a year ago. For this purpose, we are heading to an address to meet with colleagues from the World Without Borders Association and the Stara Zagora Community Foundation.

We don’t know the town well, so we have to catch a taxi. We pass through the centre and too imperceptibly we enter Lozenetz, which “is a bit…” – the taxi driver does not finish his line, but he advises us when ordering a taxi on the way back to specify that we are not from the neighbourhood. Otherwise they wouldn’t take us. We understand that the meeting place is the Health and Social Centre of World without Borders Association, which is located in the midst of the Roma quarter in Stara Zagora.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. View of the Health and Social Centre of World without Borders

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Meeting with the colleagues Daniela Dimitrova and Katya Djankova from Stara Zagora Community Foundation and our host – Dr. Gancho Iliev – World without borders Association chairperson.

A little later we will learn from Gancho Iliev, chairman of the World Without Borders Association, that working with people here has no exact start and end date and is a matter of personal mission. It involves building trust and rapport with the local people and the institutions. The problems are many and behind every problem there is a personal story – to take children with tuberculosis to Sofia urgently (we met Ivan, the children’s father, by chance the next day); to help a family to sell land urgently to pay the costs of a domestic violence case that cannot be delayed… It turns out that not infrequently institutions and procedures follow decisions that cannot be delayed. Under the project Improving Access to Justice for Persons Living Below the Poverty Line, with a Special Focus on Women, Children and the Roma Community of the National Legal Aid Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, lawyers advise the victims free of charge, but the program does not further undertake their defence in the event of the need for lawsuits.

The Lozenets district is notorious for its noisy campaigns for the forced demolition of illegal houses, and we are introduced into the case with the words “Stara Zagora is a champion in house removal”. The area with the illegal construction is located on the eastern side of Vitosha street, in the Pine Forest park.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. On the left side of the street there are more houses with orders to be removed.

Over 300 houses have been removed over the years, most of them massive structures built more than twenty years ago. After the demolition, most of the people were left without shelter – they went to relatives, went abroad, or to smaller towns, or took shelter on the territory of former uninhabited cow farms, where at least there were basic living conditions. Due to the lack of water supply in many of the houses in the neighbourhood and the irregular garbage collection until recently, epidemics were a very real part of the daily life of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood long before the coronavirus hit the world with full force.

“A lot of people have been lied to over the years by different governments,” say Hristo and Vesko from the local civic initiative. Many people were tacitly encouraged to build without documents, they were supplied with electricity, and in many cases even paid taxes. This went on for years. In more recent times, however, the demolition of such houses is also seen as bringing a ‘political dividend’.

Since the demolition of the houses, illegal construction no longer goes beyond the boundaries of the neighbourhood, but even now there is no certain data on how many illegal houses are there.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Gancho Iliev, Christo Dinev and Vesko Minchev from the local civic initiative

The survey from the project shows that people living in illegal houses can be divided into two groups: 1) people in need of housing who have the capacity and resources and want to legally build a home, and 2) people looking for a livelihood some of whom have migrated from the region or other parts of the country without the capacity to manage on their own.

“Looking for a model for a solution to this problem in Bulgaria, we have not found anything suitable” – says Gancho Iliev – “confrontation is not a solution, we have to look for dialogue; we are not looking for a ready-made model, we rely on interaction.” Thus, World without borders initiates meetings with people in the first group, asking them how they imagine their dream house. With the assistance of the Vice-Rector of the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia (UACSG), students are involved in the initiative, who together with the people from the neighbourhood develop architectural projects. As a result of the continuous advocacy work, the local administration passed an ordinance to expand the neighbourhood and allocate 200 plots for development. All these plots were purchased at auction by residents of the neighbourhood. Those who wished to do so received the full construction documentation free of charge, thus saving around BGN 10 000 (EUR 5 000) and the considerable administrative burden and time typically needed to prepare the documentation in question.  Some of the houses designed in this way are already under construction.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Houses under construction.

From our conversation with our colleagues, we are under the impression that the concept of social housing, which is currently planned for implementation in the vicinity of the neighbourhood, is rather not seen as a solution to the housing problem. They attribute this to the ‘community culture’ and people’s reluctance to move into dormitory-style blocks of flats with a concierge, special passes and constant video surveillance. This is compounded by predetermined ways of accessing some utilities (e.g. concerns about high electricity bills and inability to heat with solid fuel) which can lead to exorbitant costs for social housing residents.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Social housing.
Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Newly constructed block of flats with 64 social houses.

Most of the young people in the neighbourhood seem to have gone abroad, where they work and feel good abroad, and put all the money they save into buying property in the neighbourhood or into construction.  Despite high prices and poor infrastructure, there are currently no available houses for sale in the neighbourhood. The flats in the new-build neat housing blocks, we passed by on our way to the meeting point have also long been bought up by Roma. Probably also because of the close proximity of the new buildings to the central part of the town and the student hostels. “About 30% of the Roma in the neighbourhood can now afford to invest in such housing,” says Gancho Iliev.

The Lozenetz district in Stara Zagora is big and the problems are many, but all the residents who work abroad apparently invest in property with the intention that one day they will return, “it will get better, they will be appreciated and will spend their old age here in peace”.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Newly erected building in vicinity to the houses in Lozenetz district.
Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Christo Dinev and Vesko Minchev.

“Integration happens through migration” – says Vesko Minchev bitterly. He defines himself as an “evangelist”. His children have been abroad for a long time and have done very well there. “I also work with many Bulgarians,” says Vesko, adding that in Bulgaria “there is a lot of racism” that hinders integration. This is probably the reason why successful young Roma avoid identifying as Roma in society. A successful Roma is no longer Roma in the eyes of society. We conclude that this is a sad finding.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Gancho Iliev, Christo Dinev

Hristo is a Bulgarian from the neighbourhood. He is a former policeman. Christo’s children are in the USA and they also have no intention of returning. But when they do decide to return, they have very different requirements and understandings. “My only goal is people to have proper education alternatives.” The fact that there are only two schools in the neighbourhood that exclusively educate children from the neighbourhood is regarded as a very big problem and mistake by both local men we have invited for this discussion. They recall how in the past children were scattered in different schools in the city.  And now there are children who are in school outside the neighbourhood, but due to the specific interests of the schools to maintain the required number of students against the background of a shrinking birth rate, as well as prejudice among Bulgarian parents, segregated schools have also been established in the town centre.

Ivan’s children, whom we met the next day, also go to school outside the neighbourhood. “We’ve brought them out, I’ve been following this in particular, coming here with teachers, helping them,” says Gancho Iliev. And, Ivan adds, he wants his children to study in the town, “to be around another culture there.”

Ivan is one of the residents of Lozenets district who live in illegal buildings. He cannot afford to buy a plot or a house and would love to get social housing. “It would be better for the children. There will be a bathroom and a toilet,” he says.  But Ivan has a very serious problem to apply for housing – his ID card, according to which he is registered at another address, expires soon, the mother of his children has another address registration, and the two are not married. They also have unacknowledged children. Unless an exception is made to the relevant regulation, Ivan will not be able to obtain social housing.

Ivan has a permanent job at the Medical Faculty of Thracian University and is among the few vaccinated against covid 19. He does not want to go abroad. “I am fine here, I earn my money, I work”. His biggest wish is that his daughter (now 14) will one day become a nurse. “Since we haven’t achieved much in life, at least the children should achieve something. Don’t let them say one day – they found me a job here as a cleaner”. Ivan has three other children – boys – aged 2, 5 and 11. Ivan is definitely one of the many residents of the neighbourhood who need housing support.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Meeting Ivan.

The conditions in which Ivan’s family lives are very difficult. Two families live in the house – his sister’s, with three children, and his, with five children. There is no electricity or water in the house. The family fetches water by buckets from the neighbouring houses. So last year his children fell seriously ill with tuberculosis and were admitted to a hospital in Sofia. Gancho took them there. Despite the adversity, Ivan is smiling and does not complain. “Every year we bring them Christmas presents, we help them with whatever we can,” says Gancho. Most of all Ivan would like to have normal conditions for the children – most of all electricity and water. This can only happen by living in a legal home with the necessary infrastructure.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. The house where Ivan and his family live together with his sister’s family.
Photo: Roma Policy Lab. View of the illegal houses near the pine forest park – Ayazmoto. In the back you can see the 12th Primary School (former bathhouse, then industrial workshop).

“All the houses from here up are illegal. They were built after the 90s. Our fight from here on will be to save them from demolition. But, people here live in terrible, inhuman conditions.” We also understand that certain business interests will play a role in the regularisation as the houses border the park where there are a number of private attractions.

Gancho Iliev and I continue our tour of the neighbourhood. We pass by the building of the Roma Cultural Centre, which was once built under the PHARE programme. The building has been abandoned for years. The mayor of the municipality is willing to make it available for use, but for this purpose at least minimal maintenance is needed.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. Roma Cultural Centre, built under the PHARE program.

We are now on the other side of the Lozenets district. The houses here are also illegal. The land belongs to a forest fund and there is no possibility to be placed into regulation. The people once got lots for electricity and have access to drinking water and at this stage, with the sewerage, they will join the water cycle of the Tri Chuchura – North district. The houses received lots for electricity because at the time of their construction there was no requirement for construction documentation to receive lots (the land was used for agricultural purposes under the regulations at the time and is currently in a state of standstill). 

Photo: Roma Policy Lab
Photo: Roma Policy Lab
Photo: Roma Policy Lab
Photo: Roma Policy Lab. The main water supply and sewrage systems are under repair as they will enter the town water cycle.

The wastewater will be included in the water cycle through manholes that will be discharged through the sewer and there will be no running water on the main asphalted streets to spoil the infrastructure of the two neighborhoods – Lozenets and Tri Chuchura – North. As a result of the advocacy actions on the project, the Municipality is committed to solving this problem, since at this stage, due to regulatory obstacles and restrictions, there is no possibility to legally solve the infrastructure problems of the neighbourhood.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab. A view to the hill where new regulated lots are outlined for construction.

Terraced plots are visible on the hillside for ceded development rights. However, there is still no infrastructure (water supply, sewerage, asphalting) and at this stage they remain unusable. It is likely that the Municipality will seek funding from abroad as it does not have such a budget.

We are finishing the tour at the “Hr. Smirnenski” secondary school. Thanks to the advocacy actions under the project, the Municipality has made the street, which is the main entrance to the building, one-way. Previously, the street was two-way traffic, which was a safety hazard for the children. The street also acted as an exit to avoid inspection by law enforcement as a large number of people drive without licenses. “Seeing the traffic police patrol, anyone without license crouches down and avoids the check and goes back to the neighborhood,” explains Gancho Iliev.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab

We can also see the place where there used to be a stopcock, which is now secured. “The stopcock was sticking out of the ground and was a prerequisite for crashes and traffic accidents“.

Photo: Roma Policy Lab

At the end of our tour of the Lozenetz district, we return to the office of World Without Borders, where the main work is on health prevention and counselling. We ask Gancho if he can count on young people and volunteers to get actively involved in the NGO’s work. We also ask what he needs. It turns out that there are not many people willing to help. Working in the civil sector in the community is generally difficult and is more a matter of personal mission and responsibility. Working on a project basis is precarious and inconsistent; career prospects cannot compete with other areas of the job market. In order to be retained for longer, young people need to be able to be offered a longer perspective and security, which in turn are necessary to build trust in the community. It becomes something of a vicious circle – on the one hand organisations need project funding as there is generally no other funding to rely on, on the other hand with a limited team it is frivolous to take on additional project work. When asked what the association needs organizationally, Gancho Iliev answers that it needs supervision and support for strategic planning. However, the satisfaction of a job well done and of having helped someone remains the most valuable reward.

We at Roma Policy Lab would like to express our sincere gratitude to Gancho Iliev and the other participants in our talks for their time and attention and would like more people to get to know the virtuous work of their team in the Lozenetz neighborhood.

In conclusion:

The project Advocacy campaign for social housing and residential land in the municipalities of Stara Zagora, Plovdiv and Maritsa Municipalities aimed to involve citizens in decision-making on public policies.

The most important outcome of the project was the empowerment of the target groups. To involve them, local citizens’ Initiatives were created, which submitted signed petitions related to improving housing policies in the municipalities.

In the beginning some people were sceptical that anything could depend on them or change upon their intervention. Some were inclined to blame circumstances. After the meetings and talks and the gathering of signatures to support their demands and the fact that they were officially submitted and accepted by the local authorities, people’s attitude changed. They believed that they could successfully influence local policies.

In Stara Zagora, local civic initiatives also came up with a concrete proposal to improve living conditions in the Lozenetz district. These demands were outlined independently and submitted as proposals to the municipality.

Here are the actions undertaken by the municipal authorities under each demand of the citizens:

1. There is a need to repair and resurface the main streets that serve the neighbourhood;

As the problem requires significant resources, potholes were partially filled on the main streets in the neighbourhood within the last year. The 2022 budget includes major repairs to two of the main roadways.

2. Improving water quality and finding a solution to tackle the water regime in the neighbourhood;

After discussions with the management of the water and sewerage utility with the mediation of the municipality of Stara Zagora, the repair of the central water pipeline in the neighborhood was accelerated. This repair is important because it is the main artery for clean water to the whole neighbourhood.

The sewerage system along Vitosha street is under repair. All wastewater has been captured and is being incorporated into the city sewer system. A pipe has now been laid in the gully where the sewage used to collect and the dirty water is flowing into it.

The renovation also provided connection points for the newly built houses along the street. The asphalting of the street is to be completed along Vitosha street after the new construction is completed.

3. To secure a water main shut-off valve located above the street line on Znanie street at the intersection with Bogdan street and is a prerequisite for accidents;

As of today, the valve property of the water and sewerage utility is secured.

4. To provide more garbage collection sites in the Lozenets district and to ensure more regular removal of household waste;

As the road infrastructure of the neighbourhood does not allow access to the garbage trucks of the garbage collection company to serve a part of the Lozenetz neighbourhood, several sites have been designated where the waste is collected. After raising the issue of the cleanliness and hygiene of the sites in question, the company increased the number of containers placed on them several times. This helps to keep the rubbish from being scattered. Larger containers have also been placed for construction and bulky waste. In addition, the collection frequency has been increased and to date the containers are emptied daily between 15:30 and 16:30 h.

5. To repair the concrete fence of Hr. Smirnenski school, which is compromised and falling on the north side (Znanie street) and which is a threat to the lives of students and residents of the neighborhood;

The concrete fence of Hr. Smirnenski school  is compromised on the north side (Znamenie Street). The fence poses a real danger to passers-by. After discussions with the Education Department and the school board, funds have been earmarked in this year’s budget for repairing the dangerous section.

6. In view of the safety of the residents of the area and the students of Hr. Smirnenski school, the traffic on Znamenie street should become one-way in the east-west direction (from Vitosha street to Bogdan street);

The case was reviewed by the Municipal Transport Committee, which agreed that the citizens’ request was reasonable and moved on to placing the appropriate street signs to make the traffic on the Znanie street to become one-way in the east-west direction (from Vitosha street to Bogdan street);

This publication was produced with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area in the framework of the regional initiative Roma Policy Lab. The entire responsibility for the content of this publication lies with Roma Policy Lab and under no circumstances can it be assumed that this publication reflects the official opinion of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Operator of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria.

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