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Czech Republic: Romani tenants overcharged for substandard housing

16 April 2013
2 minute read

Romani tenants of tenements in excluded localities on the
outskirts of Liberec, a town of 100 000 in the Czech Republic, pay almost
CZK 9 000 in rent for studio apartments, often with mold-infested walls. According
to a study mapping the ghetto in Liberec, about 1 100 people are living in
such conditions in several residential hotels and 14 apartment buildings.

According to the study, the tenements on Vojanova street
are some of the most problematic localities in Liberec. A cursory glance at the
muddy courtyard full of clutter near one building with peeling walls confirms
that. Most of the repairs that have been made to properties there are only
temporary, with the exception of several newly-installed plastic window frames,
which glow against the banged-up façade.

The real problems here, however, cannot be seen from the
exterior. For example, in one building the drains have not worked for several
years and wastewater has flowed directly into the basement instead.

“If
they would bring us some gravel it would look different here,” a Romani man
about 50 years old says, pointing to a small group of young children up to
their ankles in water who are tracking mud from the courtyard through the gate to
the entrance of a neighboring building.

An older Romani man  smoking in front of the building points out that exclusively Romani tenants reside
there. According to him, between 10 and 12 families live in each building.

“Fortunately
I live somewhere else already. I paid CZK 8 600 per month here even though
it was horrible. There was mold in the bathroom and the entryway, it leaked
everywhere,” the older man says, pointing to a building across the way which
is still in the same pitiful state.

An interview? Pay me CZK 10 000, says the landlord.

“Don’t
photograph anything here, you don’t have the owner’s permission!” the small
blonde woman who manages the building fires at me. A moment later she hands me
her mobile phone so I can speak with the owner directly.

“I
will answer all your questions for CZK 10 000. I’m an aristocrat, I don’t say
anything for free,” the voice on the other end says.

The older Romani man
says he knows the landlord and that response does not surprise him. “He tells
himself ‘Gypsies don’t mind’, the main thing is that you pay and repair
everything yourself,” the former tenant says angrily
.

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