Romanies moved from Vsetin do not pay loans, may be evicted again

Two of six Romany families, who received a loan from Vsetin authorities after the families were evicted from their flats in Vsetin and moved to purchased houses outside the area, have not been paying their loans, Vsetin town hall spokeswoman told CTK today.

Two of the families who promised to pay from 1500 to 2330 monthly have not paid a single crown yet, another family has not paid for three months and further two families owe two monthly payments to Vsetin.

The decision to move the Romany rent-defaulters from a dilapidated house in Vsetin centre to various north Moravian municipalities was made last autumn when Jiri Cunek, now Deputy Prime Minister development minister and Christian Democrat (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) chairman, was mayor of Vsetin.

The step has provoked a lot of controversy and heated disputes.

In total, the families owe 27,000 crowns to the town, said Vladimir Barton who heads an organisation that administers the town’s property.

Vsetin Deputy Mayor Lubomir Gajdusek (KDU-CSL) said that Vsetin will start to exact the debts from the families. "If negotiations lead nowhere, we will take legal action," Gajdusek said.

But Vaclav Zastera from Roma Vidnava association said that according to the agreement with the town hall the Romanies were to first pay the money they owed for living in Vsetin and only then the loans for the houses.

Zastera said that the families paid their old debts from Vsetin, about 4000 crowns a month. He said he had proof of this agreement with the town hall.

"If they don’t like it, we can meet at court," Zastera said, referring to the town’s representatives.

Gajdusek said that Vsetin granted loans to six families that no legal right to receive accommodation.

"The whole case has been expediently biased. Unfortunately, as the case is covered by the media, the families have a feeling that injustice is done to them when we demand that they pay their debts same as other citizens," he said.

Vsetin authorities moved the rent-defaulters to houses purchased in municipalities in other north Moravian regions in the areas around Prostejov and Jesenik.