News server Topky.sk reports that in Slovakia, Romani tenants are facing similar problems with eviction as those going on in the Czech Republic, specifically in Ostrava and Ústí nad Labem. The town of Trebišov is planning to evacuate the occupants of an apartment building in the town center on Zimní street. The building is slated for demolition, but its Romani inhabitants are refusing to move.
The town hall has received an expert evaluation according to which a structural engineer has found that the brick housing unit with 27 apartments is seriously compromised and must be demolished. "The structural evaluation unequivocally recommends getting rid of the building," Mayor Marián Kolesár told a meeting of town councilors. "Because the building is currently occupied by tenants, we are proposing that their housing be addressed by constructing two apartment buildings of a lower standard, each one with 18 apartments, on Zahradní street."
Romani tenants who have lived for years in the residence at Zimní 1645 are refusing to move into the proposed settlement on the outskirts of town. "This housing unit is in good shape, they’ve just invented the excuse that its structure is compromised. We know there are no such cracks anywhere here," building occupant Jaroslav Pulko told Topky.sk.
Pulko insists that he and his sons have been properly paying rent and that they have paid thousand of euros for the building to be reconstructed. "We have already agreed that on 16 February we will pay for our own structural engineer to inspect the building. We won’t hire him locally, but from a different district," Pulko said.
Július Selecký, the head of the municipal authority, says the deadline for constructing the low-standard apartments and moving the tenants there has not yet been determined. Not all of the tenants would be offered low-standard units, however.
"There are people living there who work and are at a decent level. A solution will be sought for them to receive accommodation in town that is appropriate," Selecký said today.
