Roma Policy Lab

housing

NEW REPORT: The definition of energy poverty in Bulgaria – content and applications with an emphasis on highly vulnerable and marginalized groups

Bulgaria is in the final stages of adopting an official definition of energy poverty, but there is a risk that its use for the purpose of energy renovation of buildings will be done in a way that will not prioritize the energy poor and may even lead to an increase in energy inequality.

Effects of the introduction of a definition of energy poverty and related social protection mechanisms on representatives of vulnerable groups with an emphasis on the Roma

What needs to be done to reduce energy poverty? What should a good (well-functioning) definition of energy poverty include in order to have a maximally beneficial societal effect? Does what we know about the definition to be adopted meet the criteria for a well-functioning definition of energy poverty? Are there groups of vulnerable energy users who may remain outside the scope of the definition of energy poverty and, accordingly, of energy poverty countermeasures?

New Open-access Book: Precarious Housing in Europe – A Critical Guide

The textbook Precarious Housing in Europe – A critical guide on cross-cutting issues around precarious housing in the Old Continent is now printed and available online to provide a profound and solid synthesis and analysis of the critical elements of housing precariousness. Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 – “Informal settlements” and “Homelessness” – were drafted by the research team of the Open Society Institute – Sofia and present the scope, causes and dynamics of homelessness and illegally built housing and settlements such as migrant camps, neighbourhoods with a high concentration of poverty and often ethnically segregated and marginalized urban areas.

Building Future For All: Urban Planning in Roma Settlements

Illegal and informal housing is a problem in Bulgaria. Demolishing Roma neighborhoods does not solve the problem. This Handbook presents a model that works as a viable alternative to evictions and demolition. Through urban planning, municipalities can endorse or amend zoning plans to allow families to formalize built houses and buy the plots of land where they live. As a result, municipalities will achieve greater stability, security, and economic opportunity for all.

The absence of the state

For vulnerable groups, poor housing conditions are part of a vicious cycle of mutually reinforcing vulnerabilities. See more here:

Project “Research Based Arguments for New Housing Policies in Benefit of All”

The aim of the project was to support the development of adequate municipal and national housing policies and to contribute to the improvement of the housing conditions of vulnerable groups in Bulgaria. Habitat Bulgaria carried out detailed sociological housing needs research in four Roma communities in the the two pilot regions – Sliven and Targovishte. See more here: