Almost half of all Roma people in Vysočina region, Czech Republic, live in excluded localities

According to estimates provided by municipalities and social workers in the Vysočina region, more than 40 % of the roughly 2 500 Roma residents there live in socially excluded localities. Eight towns and villages have such localities on their territories, with the largest of them in the regional capital of Jihlava and in Třebíč. The region is now attempting to start collaborations between these municipalities in order to improve their chances of accessing state money to address these problems, regional governor Jiří Běhounek told the press today.

“Excluded localities do exist here where people are living in rather hard situations. This is due to the very poor economic situation combined with disillusionment, family breakdown, loan-sharking and other factors,” the governor said. Last year the Vysočina regional authority produced a report on the state of the Roma minority in Vysočina for the human rights section of the Office of the Czech Government.

Běhounek said the responsible authorities in the region have until now relied on the fact that fewer Roma people live in Vysočina than in other regions and have not, therefore, concerned themselves in-depth with the situation in the problematic localities. The governor said it is also necessary to improve coordination between Roma advisers and social workers.

In the town of Telč, for example, members of the Roma minority live in two buildings with 16 apartments in a former brick factory almost two kilometers outside of town. There are three excluded localities in Jihlava and Třebíč. In one part of Jihlava, Roma people are even living in temporary plastic shelters of the kind used on construction sites.

Some towns are already doing their best to address the situation in the problematic localities. For example, field social work is about to begin in Žďár nad Sázavou. The town hall there is competing for a state subsidy for the new social service and stands to receive as much as a quarter of a million crowns. The field social worker will mainly focus on residents in Brodská street and those living in 25 apartments in a municipally-owned building.