The grant agreement for the second and third wave of the Regional Housing Programme of the Republic of Serbia was signed today in the Government of Serbia.
 
The grant agreement, worth 26.7 million EUR, which provides housing for 1,585 of the most vulnerable refugee families in Serbia, was signed by Jadranka Joksimovic, Minister without portfolio responsible for European integration and Stephan Seleen, a representative of the Council of Europe Development Bank.
 
Vladimir Cucić, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration, recalled that there are still 24 collective centers in Serbia, of which 13 are located in central Serbia and 11 in Kosovo and Metohija. He expressed the hope that they will be closed in the near future, due to the fact that republic of Serbia is very committed to this task.

Commissioner Cucić reminded that the signing of grant agreement continues the implementation of the Regional Programme, which is planned to provide housing for 16,780 of the most vulnerable refugee families in our country during next five years. Regional Housing Programme is a multi-year program to provide permanent housing for some 74,000 refugees and displaced persons in the region.
 
Oscar Benedict, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, said that the EU is the main donor of the Regional Housing Fund, as it provides 74.3 percent of the total funding for projects.
 
As he pointed out, the EUs human and moral obligation is to help solve the issue of providing homeless people in the region.
Reminding that the American government with allocated $ 20 million is second-largest donor to the Regional Housing Fund, Deputy Head of Mission of the USA Embassy in Belgrade Gordon Duguid paid tribute to the Government of Serbia for the preparation of quality projects for a permanent solution to this issue.