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News server Romea.cz. Everything about Roma in one place

Czech municipality continues to push impoverished residents out

28 April 2013
5 minute read

The centrally located municipal department of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz in
the town of Ostrava is facing even more criticism for its approach toward its
socially vulnerable residents. During a recent inspection, the Building Works
Authority there has discovered that buildings being used as residential hotels
were never permitted for that kind of use. The structures concerned are meant to
be used as apartment buildings (where whole apartments, not individual rooms,
are meant to be leased) or as office buildings.

The occupants of these buildings now risk losing their housing benefits.
Since the rents are very high in these residential hotels, they would be unable
to afford to stay there should that happen. The Czech Government Agency for
Social Inclusion has already warned the municipal department, the town hall, and
the Regional Authority of this issue in a letter. Agency Director Martin Šimáček
says the situation must be addressed immediately.

Přednádraží Street

According to Šimáček, the Agency has long been following the situation in
Ostrava, primarily since the problems last year in the Přednádraží Street
locality. Most of the people living there have had to leave for various reasons.
There are ongoing disputes between the property owner, the state (specifically,
Czech Railways) and the town over whose responsibility it is to repair a broken
sewer line there. Hygienic conditions became intolerable in the buildings
because of the damage. People have moved away because the devastated buildings
were no longer fit for occupancy and there was a risk they might collapse.

"Back then we did our best to make sure the longtime residents from
Přednádraží did not end up in the residential hotels on Cihelní Street. We
recommended the municipal department and the town address the situation some
other way than by expecting people to use the inadequate, overpriced, short-term
accommodations in those bad residential hotels,” says Šimáček, who believes the
people will now have to move once more.

Cihelní and Tomkova streets

Šimáček claims that 350 tenants of three residential hotels now face the
prospect of ending up on the street without benefits. The municipal department,
for the time being, is mainly discussing two residential hotels in Cihelní and
Tomkova streets as problematic, but suspects the situation might be similar for
others.

Kumar Vishwanathan, chair of the Life Together (Vzájemné soužití) civic
association, which assists Romani people in Ostrava and elsewhere, has long been
warning of the situation faced by people from Přednádraží and other localities
in the municipal department of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz. In his view, the town
hall is trying to remove the most impoverished people, most of whom are Romani,
from this central municipal department. The municipal department, or
entrepreneurs connected with local politicians who have interests in the quarter,
are gradually pushing people away from Přednádraží, Palackého and Božkova
streets and now from Cihelní and Tomkova streets.

According to Vishwanathan, Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz is treating its citizens
with the same arrogance that the communists did prior to November 1989. “We are
witnessing an effort by those in power to oust impoverished people from town
center. This is humiliating for the impoverished and their problems are larger
than ever. Now there is the risk that some of them will end up on the street.
This is all happening just so Romani people will never be seen again in Moravská
Ostrava a Přívoz,” Vishwanathan told news server Romea.cz previously.

Municipal apartments? No.

"Currently, roughly 90 residential hotel tenants have received warnings from
the Labor Office that their housing benefits can be halted,” municipal
department Vice-Mayor Tomáš Kuřec (Czech Social Democratic Party – ČSSD) said,
adding that social workers are addressing the people’s situations. However, he
does not agree with proposals to house the tenants in municipally-owned
apartments.

"Unfortunately, the people in those residential hotels are deeply indebted as
a result of their previous rental relationships, either with private landlords
or our own municipally-owned apartments. Our principle is not to lease
apartments to debtors,” Kuřec said.

Šimáček, on the other hand, points out that the municipal department has
enough apartments available and should cooperate more with nonprofits to address
this issue. "It is essential that the Labor Office, the municipal department,
the Regional Authority and the town hall meet together to find a solution. These
people are on the brink of a crisis and they will either end up in some other
bad residential hotels and non-residential spaces, or they will start migrating
around the region. We are prepared to lend a helping hand to the town,” says
Šimáček.

The Labor Office in Ostrava warned the occupants of the troubled residential
hotels in March that they could lose their housing benefit. Gabriela Petříková,
the head of the department of uncovered social benefits, said people received
three months in which to resolve their situations. For the time being they are
still entitled to those monies and will lose them in June at the earliest.

"I know nothing. I’m supposed to go to the welfare office on Monday so they
can tell me what’s going on. I don’t have anywhere to pay this from, I don’t
have anything,” the occupant of one residential hotel says.

"We have been warning of the unsound housing situation of impoverished people
here for the past 10 – 15 years. It just cannot be that these people are
constantly pushed to the margins. Not only Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz, but other
municipal departments should take care of their citizens and give them permanent
housing. There are enough apartments. The conditions in the residential hotels
are like in a camp. There are big problems in the families because of this
dismal situation, the parents are nervous and transfer their nervousness to the
children. No family can function in that environment,” Vishwanathan tells news
server Romea.cz.

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