Integration of Roma in the area of housing

 

SUMMARY

A Council recommendation adopted in 2013 calls for measures to be taken in a number of areas, including housing, to strengthen the integration of Roma people, Europe’s largest ethnic minority.

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE RECOMMENDATION?

It demonstrates the strong and shared political commitment of all EU countries to strengthen their efforts to:

—	combat social exclusion and discrimination, and

—	achieve real improvements in promoting Roma integration in the areas of housing, education, employment and health.

KEY POINTS

In regard to access to housing for the Roma, the recommendation calls on EU countries to take measures to ensure that they:

—	eliminate any spatial segregation (i.e. areas where certain groups are clustered) and promote desegregation (i.e. more mixed neighbourhoods),

—	promote non-discriminatory access to social housing,

—	provide halting sites for non-sedentary Roma, in proportion to local needs,

—	ensure access to public utilities (such as water, electricity and gas) and infrastructure for housing in line with national legal requirements.

EU countries should also, whenever relevant,

—	ensure that applications from local authorities to redevelop or regenerate urban areas include integrated housing developments in favour of marginalised communities,

—	promote community-led local development and/or integrated territorial investments supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds.

Monitoring and evaluation

—	EU countries need to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the measures that they take both in terms of their national Roma integration strategies and within their broader social inclusion policies.

—	This can be done by setting targets or by collecting qualitative or quantitative data on the social and economic effects of the measures taken.

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The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has developed a multiannual Roma programme (2012–2020). It prepares regular reports on progress made and provides evidence-based advice to the EU institutions and EU countries based on data gathered from across the EU. In 2009, it prepared a report on housing discrimination against the Roma.

Reporting and follow-up

EU countries are to report to the European Commission by 1 January 2016 any measures taken in line with the recommendation. Thereafter, they are to provide this information on an annual basis.

The Commission, in turn, ensures that the information provided serves as a basis for its annual report on the implementation of national Roma integration strategies.

The results also feed into the European Semester process for economic policy coordination. Since 2012, as part of the European Semester, the Council has issued country-specific recommendations to five countries with large Roma communities (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia).

BACKGROUND

—	Roma integration on the European Commission’s website

—	EU Agency for Fundamental Rights

ACT

Council Recommendation of 9 December 2013 on effective Roma integration measures in the Member States (OJ C 378, 24.12.2013, pp. 1-7)

RELATED ACTS

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020 (COM(2011) 173 final of 5 April 2011)

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Report on the implementation of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies 2015 (COM(2015) 299 final of 17 June 2015)

Commission Staff Working Document: Confronting Homelessness in the European Union Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Towards Social Investment for Growth and Cohesion — including implementing the European Social Fund 2014-2020 (SWD(2013) 42 final of 20 February 2013)

last update 15.10.2015