Czech President Pavel: Trafficking in poverty is flourishing in socially excluded localities and the state's measures make it possible
Czech President Petr Pavel believes the basic problem of the socially excluded localities in his country is their concentration into a small territory. Speaking at the Jezeří chateau in the Most area at the end of a two-day visit to the Ústecký Region, Pavel noted that 70 % of such places are in three of the country's 14 regions.
The highest numbers of people living in social exclusion are in the Karlovy Vary, Moravian-Sileisan and Ústecký Regions. Pavel debated the issue on Wednesday evening with his fellow citizens and on Thursday with regional representatives, attending two round tables, one on the subject of energy and regional transformation, the other on social exclusion.
The president visited the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, which is among the big socially excluded localities, and listened to local politicians, nonprofit organizations and representatives of local authorities at an organization called the “Libuše” Neighborhood House (Sousedský dům Libuše). Those engaging the president in discussion were the director of the Agency for Social Inclusion, Martin Šimáček; the director of the Innovation Center for the Ústecký Region, Martin Mata; the owner of the “Libuše” Neighborhood House, Petr Globočník, who is also a local assembly member in Litvínov and a social worker there; and Karel Karika, a regional assembly member, local assembly member in the city of Ústí nad Labem and local assembly member of the Municipal Department of Ústí nad Labem-město.
“It was a diverse group of discussants and during almost two hours we focused on the new bill on affordable housing and other proposals for reducing tensions in excluded localities within the Ústecký Region,” Karika, who serves on both the Committee for National Minorities and the Committee for Social Affairs, Security and Socially Excluded Localities at the regional level, told news server Romea.cz.
Karel Karika: Local residents must be involved in solutions
“I spoke about community work in excluded localities, which I consider the best way to strengthen the position of their residents and involve them in decision-making processes – without that, it is not possible to effectively resolve the problems of the excluded localities,” Karika said. A press release sent by the Office of the President to the Czech News Agency (ČTK) after the meeting stated that collaboration among all stakeholders in these territories is the most crucial aspect of reducing social exclusion.
According to Pavel, such problems are related to social housing. “What startles me the most is that while we have all long been discussing the problem of the trafficking in poverty which is concentrated here, unfortunately, the state’s measures are part of the problem,” he said.
In the president’s view, the current maps of rental housing prices are set up irrespective of the customary rents in any given locale at any given time, which makes it possible for units to then be commodified. Their owners draw on state subsidies which never reach the people renting the units.
“Billions of crowns are flowing into black holes, the problem of socially excluded localities is not being solved and the state is losing a lot of money,” the president said. In his view, the bill on social housing can aid the situation.
In his view, the bill on social housing can aid the situation. The president said debate on how to force the owners of apartment units to fulfill their responsibilities is justified.
The president said debate on how to force the owners of apartment units to fulfill their responsibilities is justified. “The subject of discussion could even become such a sensitive matter as how to expropriate such units. That would constitute great interference with ownership rights,” he said.
“The debate was relatively wide-ranging because we comprehensively discussed the problem of social exclusion in its entirety, and a lot of it revolved around housing,” Globočník told news server Romea.cz, expressing appreciation for how much the president was already informed about the situation at the Janov housing estate.
Petr Globočník: We should view the socially excluded localities as opportunity zones
“We also discussed the fact that it is high time to stop viewing a locality like Janov as socially excluded, as something wrong, and to see it as an opportunity zone, on the American model. There are an awful lot of such opportunities here – cheap housing, proximity to the border with Germany, which is an enormous economy, and human capital, which is immeasurable and still remains quite forgotten,” Globočník said.
According to Karika, the discussion with the Office of the President about the socially excluded localities will continue. “At the end I was recommended to visit Prague Castle together with the Czech Government Commissioner for Romani Minority Affairs to discuss these matters in more detail,” he told Romea.cz.
The president appreciated the fact that his fellow citizens asked specific questions about the problems in the region and that he received a lot of suggestions from them. “It was quite substantive, I believe the president filled an entire notebook with notes during the day because he actually did write a lot of it down,” the governor said.
“We have many of our own experts here, but we do need aid from the state for some things. We asked for our region, the Moravian-Silesian Region and the Karlovy Vary Region to be taken into account when it comes to the social agenda, education and energy,” the governor of the Ústecký Region said.
Pavel was last on an official, one-day visit to northern Bohemia at the end of February 2023, before his inauguration. The Karlovy Vary Region is next on his schedule.
On Sunday and Monday the president will meet with regional politicians there and debate education and socially excluded localities in the region with his fellow citizens and experts.
The Karlovy Vary and Ústecký Regions came in last place in a recent comparative survey called “A Place to Live” (Místo pro život), which is conducted by the Datank agency. The survey maps the quality of life for residents in various places.
The Agency for Social Inclusion reported that the numbers rose in 2023 of municipalities with socially excluded localities in the Czech Republic, neighborhoods where high numbers of local residents live on welfare, are involved in collections proceedings, and are either unemployed or not in education. Such places are most often located in those two regions, with the most serious situation last year occurring in the municipality of Obrnice in the Most area.
