Czech Republic: Analysis shows number of persons in need of affordable housing is rising in Frýdlant district

A new situational analysis of the Frýdlant district has pointed out there is a growing number of persons in need of housing, not enough municipally-owned social apartments, and "trafficking in poverty" is blossoming. One area focused on by the authors of the analysis was housing in socially excluded localities.

The analysis maps in detail the municipalities of Bulovka, Frýdlant, Nové Město pod Smrkem and Višňovka. "The number of people who are in need of affordable housing because they have been subjected to collections on their debts is growing. The municipalities mostly do not have enough municipally-owned social apartments, and therefore people are frequently referred to private landlords," Jakob Hurrle, one of the researchers from the association Sedmý kontinent (Seventh Continent) told the Liberecký deník daily.

The analysis reports, for example, that Radim Urban, a co-owner of seven apartment units for the impoverished in Frýdlant, is one of these entrepreneurs or "traffickers in poverty". Hurrle said the conditions in which Urban’s tenants live are awful and inhumane:  "There is no running water because Mr Urban does not pay the bills sent to him by the Frýdlant Water Works Company. The sewer system is leaking into one room, but the owner is not addressing it. He charges a rent that is three times that charged to live in municipally-owned apartments."

The tenants there include many impoverished Roma who frequently have no other option for housing. The town, according to Mayor Dan Ramzer, is not considering purchasing those buildings for redevelopment as mixed social and standard housing.