EU funds to help renovating Romany ghettos

Prefabricated blocks of flats from the housing estates inhabited largely by Czech Romanies may be renovated, using the funds from an EU operational programme, according to the government council for the Romany community. The project managed by the Local Development Ministry should take place between 2007 and 2013 in five localities with over 20,000 residents.

In related news, a new agency was set up to battle social exclusion and to improve housing conditions of Romanies. As of January 2008, the agency will conduct pilot projects in 12 Czech ghettos. It will aim to establish cooperation between authorities, NGOs and residents of the localities. There are currently over 300 ghettos in the country, mostly inhabited by Romanies, with as many as 80,000 people living in them.