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In Vrnjačka Banja, keys to 20 newly built apartments were handed over to refugee families from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia

In Vrnjačka Banja today 19 May 2023, keys to 20 newly built apartments intended for refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia were headed over. The apartments were built as part of the Regional Housing Programme, Sub-Project 8.

The total gross area of the building is 1,053.22 m²to the value of € 560,301.57. The construction lasted approximately a year, and the Occupation Permit was issued on 26 April 2023.

The event was attended by Nataša Stanisavljević, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, Boban Đurović, President of the Municipality of Vrnjačka Banja, Gerhard Salzer, Representative of the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia, Stefanie Krause, Deputy Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Dušan Kovačević, Director of the Public Sector Project Implementation Unit, Representatives of other State and International Organizations and Institutions, and others.

“The regional housing program aims to improve the living conditions of refugees, solve their housing issue, facilitate integration into the community and provide a safe environment to continue living. Within the framework of the Regional Housing Program, a total of 6,972 housing solutions have been allocated to Beneficiaries thus far while in Vrnjačka Banja 518 housing solutions have been allocated, of which 69 are through the Regional Housing Programme. Today we handed over the keys to 20 families from Vrnjačka Banja. Allocating housing to refugee families and providing a new home to people who were forced to leave their homes due to conflict, persecution or other difficult circumstances is one of the most important goals of the Commissariat. The Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia will continue, with the support of its Partners, to continuously work on providing decent and permanent housing for all vulnerable families who had to leave their homes, in order to enable a safer and better life”, Commissioner Stanisavljević pointed out.

The Regional Housing Programme is a joint recurrent Programme of the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia which aims to provide permanent housing solutions to the most vulnerable refugee families in the Region. It is implemented with the support of the OSCE, the UNHCR and the Council of Europe Development Bank and it is financed with the funds from the European Union which is also the largest donor, the United States, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.