Second meeting of the Steering Committee of the Regional Housing Program was held on Friday 12 July 2013. It will help solve the housing needs of 74.000 refugees in the region.

Regional Housing Program is a joint initiative of four countries - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, with the aim to end displacement in the region. Partner countries initiative was generously supported by the international community and numerous donors.

Host of the board meeting was Dr. Jovan Krkobabić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Serbia. The meeting was attended by senior representatives of the countries of the region and the international community: Damir Ljubic, Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirela Popovic Stanic, director of Croatian State Bureau for Renovation and Housing, Predrag Boskovic, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare of the Republic of Montenegro, Joost Korte, European Commission Deputy Director General for Enlargement, Anne Richard, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration of the U.S, Ambassador Peter Burkhard, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Vincent Cochetel, Director of UNHCR’s Bureau for Europe and Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Vice-governor of the Council of Europe’s Development Bank.

Regional Housing Program fund was established last year. To that fund are paid funds raised at the donors’ conference in Sarajevo held in April 2012. It was collected 261 million euros and from that sum it should be paid to Regional Housing Program fund nearly 100 million euros by the end of 2013.

Assembly of donors approved the first projects in April this year. Projects are worth seven million euros and will provide permanent housing for 450 of the most vulnerable refugee families. The second wave of projects should be approved in October 2013.

Board of Directors also announced that a new round of collecting the missing funds is expected to begin not later than 2014. Members of the Board of the Regional Housing Program commended the progress made in the preparations for the implementation of the program and the establishment of management structures which provided the countries of the region a leading role in the implementation of programs and close cooperation with the international community.
Starting with a large number of vulnerable refugees in the region, members of the Board urged all participants in the program to make every effort as many refugees in need solve most existential question.

 

During the speech Dr. Krkobabić underlined the commitment of Serbia to efficient and timely implementation of the Regional Housing Program to solve the existential problems of refugees and displaced persons in the region. Over the past four years, when the initiative of Deputy Prime Minister Krkobabić restarted the process of regional cooperation, the foundations were laid for solving difficult problems of refugees in the region.
„The efforts of the four countries in this process аре supported and recognized by the international community,“said Dr. Krkobabić and thanked the OSCE, UNHCR, the European Union and the United States for their active role and support in dealing with "this serious problem".

He said that the governments оf four countries (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) have an obligation to solve the needs of refugees and displaced persons. This meeting marked the beginning of concrete actions to implement the Regional program and the first results of this joint human missions will be visible soon.

„On behalf of the Government of Serbia, I thank the donor community and all countries. In times of severe economic crisis, at the donor conference in Sarajevo in April 2012, they provided a significant portion of the funds for the implementation of the Regional Housing Program to deal with existential questions of tens of thousands of families in the region, "said Krkobabić.

Vladimir Cucić, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, said he expects that during next five years the Regional Housing Program will permanently solve the problem of 17.000 refugee families.

„About 13.600 families were listed as the most direct beneficiaries of the program in Serbia and in the next few months we will visit them and check whether they meet the required criteria. From October 13,9 million euros will be available for Serbia for the implementation of the second wave of projects under the Regional Housing Program. After lots of trouble we had at the beginning, we hope to fulfill the expectations of refugee families in Serbia over the next few years, "Cucić said, adding that the 54 municipalities in Serbia have created the preconditions for the construction of residential buildings.

According to the Commissioner Cucić, there will be assisted 1.100 refugee families from the Serbian budget, and the Serbian government allocated 350 million dinars for this purpose.