Social Housing and Roma Residents in Romania

Recent years have witnessed several initiatives of public authorities in Romania of housing Roma residents in specially built housing projects. Such measures are usually aimed at restoring dilapidated blocks of flats inhabited by extremely poor Roma people. Based on five case studies, this paper highlights the decline mechanisms in such marginal neighborhoods, and it examines whether these destructive factors are kept under control in the new housing projects. Policy recommendations are derived from research findings, aiming to increase social integration of the residents, and to prevent further housing failures.