Czech ombudsman's research: Roma are discriminated against in accessing housing, nonprofits lack capacity to aid everybody
According to research by the Office of the Public Defender of Rights (the ombudsman) in the Czech Republic, nonprofit organizations in the country are succeeding in securing housing for those who are having a harder time accessing it for different reasons. However, they are able to cover just a fraction of those who need such aid.
The research has been published to the ombudsman’s website. Vulnerable groups include, for example, families with many children, people living with disabilities, Romani people, and senior citizens.
Representatives of 14 organizations from all over the republic participated in the research. They described their work with people who, for various reasons, have a harder time accessing ordinary housing.
“Most organizations are not struggling with difficulties when it comes to finding apartment units. They could find even more such properties, but they don’t have the capacity that is needed to support people with housing themselves successfully,” the report states.
Most organizations mentioned that it is necessary to separate the roles of an administrator or broker of apartment units from the role of a social worker. That way a clash of roles can be avoided, a social worker whose role is to defend the interests of a client should not, for example, have to collect back rent or be involved in a forced eviction.
The NGO representatives said they consider the biggest systemic problem to be the lack of a law on social housing to anchor the right to effective aid during a housing crisis and to determine who is meant to arrange housing for persons in precarity and how. The law on municipalities merely mentions creating conditions for the development of social care and meeting the needs of residents, including housing.
Organizations providing aid frequently find themselves paying for services which the state should be covering, according to a finding of the Czech Constitutional Court. According to the experiences of the organizations assisting people in crisis, municipally-managed housing is not necessarily a solution.
Housing those who often have already spent time living in inappropriate spaces, residential hotels, or who have even lived on the street is usually easier for these organizations thanks to collaborations with private owners of apartment units than it is with those owned by municipalities. “An agreement with the private owner of an apartment is usually faster and more flexible. Awarding municipally-owned apartments is, by comparison, bound by stricter rules, municipalities cannot always react in an emergency to the immediate needs of a specific family or individual. Last but not least, there are incomparably more apartments in private hands than there are owned by municipalities,” says lawyer Jana Mikulčická, a co-author of the research report.
According to the report, providing three basic guarantees has proven to be sufficient motivation for apartment owners to rent to such tenants, guarantees which the average rental relationship does not involve. These are the guarantee that the rent will be paid regularly, the guarantee that the unit’s fixtures will be properly used and that any eventual damages will be repaired, and the guarantee that eventual disputes with neighbors will be effectively resolved.
The ombudsman’s report also unambiguously states that one reason why some people find themselves in a crisis when it comes to their housing is discrimination. “While discrimination in access to housing is not allowed by law, that does not mean it does not happen,” the report states, explicitly mentioning Romani people who are discriminated against in this way.
“Significant barriers are experienced chiefly by Romani people in their access to housing,” the report states. “This difficulty in accessing regular forms of housing often leaves Roma no choice but to take advantage of options which are substandard, and more often than not they fall victim to what is termed ‘trafficking in poverty’. Also, as a consequence of these facts, Roma reside in socially excluded localities to a great degree,” the researchers state, according to whom in comparison with members of the majority society, Romani people frequently live in conditions that are substandard.
The ombudsman will gradually familiarize key actors with the findings of the research, such as the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry and the Ministry for Regional Development, municipal representatives, and organizations aiding people in housing precarity. Some of these stakeholders already had an opportunity to discuss good practices in housing provision at a round table held by the Office of the Public Defender of Rights in late December.
Summary of the Report
1. Most organizations are not struggling with difficulties when it comes to finding vacant apartment units. They would be able to secure even more properties if their own capacities could meet the need that exists to successfully house people in precarity.
2. Contacting the private sector has proven more effective when it comes to involving apartment units in these housing activities. Agreeing with private apartment owners is usually faster and more operational, and there are incomparably more privately-owned units than there are municipally-owned ones. On the contrary, awarding a municipally-owned unit frequently means a bureaucratic, cumbersome procedure where the outcome is uncertain. In some municipalities there is no political will to support housing activities of this kind.
3. Three basic guarantees have proven to be motivating for apartment unit owners to rent to such persons, guarantees which the usual rental relationship does not involve:
* a guarantee that rent will be paid regularly,
* a guarantee that the fixtures of the unit will be properly used and any eventual damages repaired,
* a guarantee that any eventual disputes with neighbors will be effectively resolved.
4. A guarantee fund of financial reserves to cover deviations in paying rent or covering a client’s other obligations significantly aids the success of such housing activities.
5. The organizations agree that it is desirable to pay the requisite attention to disputes among neighbors. Should there be complaints, it is necessary to investigate whether they are justified and eventually work with the client on correcting the situation. When resolving disputes, open communication and negotiation in person with all parties involved has proven effective.
6. Work with clients should be based on an individual approach, mutual respect, and openness. A relationship based on mutual trust makes it possible for an organization’s staff to recognize any problems in time which could contribute to a renter losing housing if unresolved.
7. What works is for the client to participate as much as possible in the housing process. It is also beneficial to involve former clients and others with experience of finding such housing as peer staffers on the team of such an organization.
8. Most organizations consider it to be appropriate to thoroughly separate the real estate line of their work from the social services line in order to function successfully, i.e., to separate housing provision from their social work support for a client being housed. By doing so, they reduce the risk of a clash of roles whereby a staffer has to defend a client’s interests on the one hand, but on the other hand could be forced, in extreme cases, to collect rent that is owed or participate in a forced eviction. Such a clash of roles could endanger the trust between a client and a staffer.
9. Collaborating with other entities able to participate in providing aid to housing clients assists these organizations. Such networking is not just beneficial to their clients, but is also beneficial to these organizations themselves, as through their close contacts with like-minded organizations, they can exchange experiences and acquire inspiration and support for their work. Close cooperation with entities which have a similar social mission also has the advantage of providing an opportunity to set up services in such a way that they mutually complement each other, given the needs in a particular region.
10. Some organizations said a significant barrier is posed by deficiencies in the functioning of some Labor Offices, especially delays in disbursing benefits.
11. The financing for housing activities is largely insufficient, many organizations take advantage of project-related resources. On the one hand, these provide the option of greater development, including beefing up personnel, but on the other hand, they involve the risk of long-term uncertainty. As housing in particular is a field where failure or success can only be determined several years after the work has been done, short-term projects (for a year or two) are always associated with risky sustainability.
12. For many people from vulnerable groups, housing is hard to afford. In our country, there is not yet a legal framework that would define, compulsorily and in detail, the duties of the institutions of the state and municipalities when it comes to housing provision. The organizations said the lack of such legislation is the main obstacle in the system.
