A special ceremony in the Belgrade City Hall on March 4 marked the beginning of construction of 270 apartments in Belgrade’s Zemun, Kamendin location. This is thanks to the Regional Housing Programme (RHP), a joint programme of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia (the Partner Countries).
Opening the event, Belgrade mayor Sinisa Mali said that the RHP in Serbia is of great importance for the most vulnerable refugees in the territory of the City of Belgrade. “Our capital has been under the largest pressure in terms of the refugee crisis, but it is also investing large effort and giving contribution so as to provide all of those who lost their homes with permanent housing solutions.”
Besides Zemun, the RHP is also investing in another project in Belgrade, which will comprise the following: construction of 235 apartments in Ovca, construction of 80 prefabricated houses, provision of 350 building material packages and purchase of 50 village houses. All housing solutions in the City of Belgrade worth 18.5 million are estimated to be completed by the end of 2017.
The RHP was founded in a bid to offer durable housing solutions to the most vulnerable refugees and displaced persons following the 1991-1995 conflicts on the territory of former Yugoslavia. Over three million people were displaced within and beyond the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia as consequence of the wars that severely hit the region.
While over the past two decades the majority of them have returned home or have found other durable solutions thanks to the efforts made by their national governments and through the support of the international community, almost half a million have remained displaced throughout the region without having found any durable housing solution yet.
Although RHP is primarily a donor funded programme, the partner countries also participate with national contributions. The European Union is the main donor, with a total pledge of EUR 230 million. The Kingdom of Norway contributed EUR 5.5 million to the RHP Fund in November 2012. Other donors include the U.S., Germany, Italy, Switzerland and other countries. Donors’ contributions are kept in the RHP Fund, which has so far received EUR 159 million and is managed by the Council of Europe Development Bank.
In Serbia, RHP is implemented by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration and RD PIU. To date, five sub-projects have been approved for Serbia (total grant amount 71 EUR million), providing housing solutions to 4,153 beneficiary families.
