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Twenty New Apartments in Petrovac

Sixteen refugee families and four local socially vulnerable cases from Petrovac received keys to their new apartments built jointly by UNHCR and the Municipality of Petrovac and funded by the Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration of the U.S. Government.

The new apartment building constructed according to the Social Housing in Supportive Environment concept will be managed by the Petrovac Centre for Social Welfare. The municipality donated the land and infrastructure, the U.S. Government funded it with USD 700,000, while the actual work was performed by NGO Housing Center, UNHCR’s long time implementing partner, specialized in this type of housing construction. As a direct result of this project, the Kasarna collective centre will finally close down.

The Kasarna collective centre was opened in 1995 housing over 400 refugees and becoming one of the biggest collective centres in Serbia. Over the years and through repatriation, resettlement and integration programmes, the number of residents declined.

The concept of Social Housing in Supportive Environment, first introduced by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in 2002 and included in the Strategy for Development and Social Protection of the Republic of Serbia, has been assessed as the best and most needed solution for the remaining residents of collective centres. It provides housing for the most vulnerable groups in need of additional support from the local Centres for Social Welfare. The SHSE concept has been well accepted in over 20 municipalities throughout Serbia where a total of 404 units were built.

The beneficiaries of apartments in Krajiska street 11a and 11b will hold the right to use the flats as long as they are in a situation of social need. A host family will be among the beneficiaries, whose role will be to act as a link between the residents and the Centre for Social Welfare in Petrovac providing them with necessary additional support. Every flat is provided with basic furniture, kitchen appliances and a stove.

UNHCR addressed the donors within the campaign to find lasting solution for the refugee protracted situations, initiated by the High Commissioner Antonio Guterres late last year, to make one additional effort to help close down the refugee saga in the Balkans. The 20 apartment social housing building in Petrovac was the first concrete answer coming from the U.S. Government.

Serbia currently hosts about 70,000 refugees and 206,000 internally displaced persons from Kosovo. The majority of them is accommodated privately while about 5,500 of them still live in 54 collective centres.

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