Czech town offers Romani family accommodation in uninhabitable residential hotel

The Gorol family of the Czech town of Slaný recently requested an apartment
from local officials after their previous rental arrangement came to an end. The
local council approved a place in its residential hotel for them, which is
comprised of three adjacent buildings.

The family was surprised to discover that the state of the facility, without
any exaggeration, is completely decrepit. In addition to being unimaginably
dirty, the walls in the unit are damaged and graffiti-covered, the toilet is
Turkish-style without running water, and there are not even intake pipes for hot
running water anywhere.

"My wife and I requested accommodation in Slaný. The municipal council
approved a place for us in its residential hotel. We were glad the town approved
housing for us even though we are Romani. Now take a look at where they want us
to live," Michal Gorol posted to the Facebook social networking site along with
photographs of the devastated municipally-owned property.  

In a reportage by TV Barrandov, which traveled to the scene to cover the
news, the couple makes no secret of their consternation. "I wouldn’t house an
animal there," Gorol said.  

Vice-Mayor Milan Grohmann gave a brief statement to TV Barrandov on the
situation to the effect that while investment into the property is allegedly
underway, "it is not highly sustainable." Public health officials from the
nearby town of Kladno who are tasked with working in Slaný said they had
actually never seen the conditions in the facility.

Those same officials however, asserted that owners or operators are not the
ones responsible for the condition of such accommodations, but that the tenants
who rent units there bear sole responsibility for upkeep. "This was the first
time I have ever applied for anything [from local government] and it is the last
time I ever will," Gorol said. 

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