New photos of much-maligned housing estate in the Czech Republic published by Romani association

Czech Internet is full of scary stories about the Chanov housing estate, where practically all the residents are Romani, and in the imaginations of many people here it is “worst” housing estate in the country (and was long before the Internet existed). What does Chanov actually look like today, though?

The Aver Roma association, which is based at Chanov, has published a gallery of photographs of what Chanov looks like today on Facebook. The housing estate is located about two kilometers from the town of Most on a hill west of Chanov settlement, which is part of the municipality of Obrnice.

The housing estate was built in 1978, and over time a primary school and 13 residential blocks with roughly 400 apartments were built there. Romani people living in Starý Most, a town that had been demolished in order to mine brown coal deposits beneath it, were gradually relocated to the Chanov housing estate.