On Wednesday the 12th of September, housing units for providing social housing in a supportive environment to refugees and internally displaced persons accommodated in collective center "Hotel Es and Remzijana,"  as also socially vulnerable local residents, were formally opened.

Keys to the housing units were presented to their respective beneficiaries by  H.E. Mary Warlick Burs the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Vladimir Cucić the Commissioner for Refugees, Mr.Goran Miljkovic the Mayor of Bela Palanka, Mrs. Marina Cremonese representative of the Danish Refugee Council in Serbia, and Mr. Milos Teržan the head of the program section of UNHCR.

The new building comprised of 8 units has been constructed through the project, "Improving housing conditions for extremely vulnerable refugees and internally displaced persons to achieve durable solutions,” funded by the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of United States of America, and implemented by the Danish Refugee Council, with the support of the Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia.

The Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia in accordance with the National Strategy for Resolving the Problems of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons has conceived the program of social housing within a supportive environment for the most vulnerable categories of persons. The funding for this project was provided by the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United States, while the project itself is being implemented through the Danish Refugee Council, with the support of the Commissariat for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia and in close cooperation with the UNHCR and the local municipality of Bela Palanka.

The project has provided dignified housing for 8 of the most vulnerable families (6 families of refugees and internally displaced persons formerly accommodated in the collective centers "Hotel Es and Remizijana" and 2 local, vulnerable families).

The target groups of the program for providing social housing within protected conditions are the most vulnerable individuals and families, amongst whose number could be considered single mothers, families of people with disabilities and chronic illness, elderly people without familial support and other socially vulnerable families.

    

The investment value of the project amounts to $220,000 provided by the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United States.

The Municipality of Bela Palanka contributed to the project by donating building lots, providing the necessary technical urban documentation, infrastructure and financing the connection of the aforementioned to the existing infrastructural network.

The right to determine the use of the housing in question rests with the Municipaliy of Bela Palanka and the building will be managed by the Center for Social Employment of Bela Palanka, which will be responsible for assuring its proper use.