Housing Rights Violations Against a Roma Community: The Case of Alba Iulia in Romania

Author: Cezara David
Anti-discrimination Programme Manager
Centre for Legal Resources (CLR)[i]

 “He threw us out like animals, telling us that ‘if you don't take your things out of the house now, you can't go in after them’. So many police and gendarmes came with dogs."

"People died, people got sick, not long ago a girl was paralysed, a woman had a heart attack and died". (evicted persons, interviewed in 2019 by CLR[1])

In Alba Iulia, a city in Romania, an entire community - around 200 people - was forcefully evicted from a block of flats made of social housing (one-room apartments of 11 square meters) in 2017. The municipality refused the renewal of their leasing contracts when they expired for no justified reason. No alternatives were offered upon eviction, and some people became homeless as a consequence.

 Some of the families, who managed to buy the flats in which they have been living for years, are now being forced by local authorities to sell their flats for prices from 2,000 and 3,200 euro, much below the market price. These amounts would not allow them to buy anything else, and thus they may become destitute. Nearly thirty families are facing this situation. The municipality has left the building in an even worst state of degradation during the years. At present, the few families that are still living in G2, for which relocation is not an option (they have very low incomes, and some are retired or have disabilities), face the insecurity of being evicted, despite being owners of the flats. Regardless of their choice, whether they take the offer or not, they will end up on the street. The expropriation procedure could be initiated at any time and the government of the city refuses to find a solution for these families.

The community of Alba Iulia has faced a long and extensive discriminatory and racist attitude from the municipality, considering the condition of the G2 apartment building, as well as the restrictive and discriminatory nature of the social housing allocation system[2].

Source: BBC News, Roma family in Ocna Sibiului, Romania

The allocation system to access social housing discriminates against Roma people

The most recent Alba Iulia Local Council’s Decision, no. 216/2021, namely Annex 1 that states the criteria regarding the scoring of the applications for social housing in Alba Iulia for the people with domicile/residence in the city is not different from the previous one, dated 2019[3]. Here are only a few of the discriminatory criteria included in the Decision:

• The higher the income of the applicant, the higher the points awarded. For example, a net income between 601 lei and 1400 lei[4] entails the score of 30 points, while a net income of less than 142 lei[5] is scored at 0 points.
• Regarding the level of education and/or professional training of the applicant for social housing, the higher level of education, the higher the score awarded. For example, an applicant with higher education obtains a maximum of 30 points (criterion awarded with 6 points in the previous decision), while an applicant without education obtains 0 points. Although the vocation to find a better-paid job is for the one with higher education, which would allow them, hypothetically, to pay rent or a mortgage, they are favoured by the municipality.
• Regarding the score awarded based on the living conditions of the applicants, the municipality awards 30 points to those who live under a lease registered with the local fiscal authorities, 10 points to those who live under a contract signed at notary with a definite date, 5 points for those living temporarily in social assistance units and for those living in sheltered housing.

In conclusion, the poorer and socially excluded a person, family, or individual is, the less likely they are to benefit from social housing in Alba Iulia.

The situation is also observed at the national level

The situation at the national level in terms of criteria to access social housing shows that the case of Alba Iulia is not the exception, but the rule. In a study[6] that included 318 towns and cities in Romania, the Center for Legal Resources found that in most of the municipalities that have social housing, the criteria to access it award higher income and higher education in the disfavour of those with low or no incomes or formal education. Many of the analysed cases also include an “excellence criteria”, awarding points to people who contribute to increasing the town’s positive image (such as winning awards), in an extremely arbitrary manner. To further discriminate against people who should be entitled to social housing (according to the national legislation), it is not uncommon to find criteria that give additional points to applicants who are civil servants or specialists/ experts (such as doctors) or for proving their children’s “interest in schooling”. The presence of 2, 3 and 4 discriminatory criteria in a single decision prevails, and this reality denotes multiple and intersectional discrimination in access to social housing. Some include up to 8 criteria into one decision (such as Baia Mare, Maramures county) or 7, the case of Alba Iulia.

The National Equality Body ruled, in at least two cases[7], that the education criteria is discriminatory because "it is not proportionate to the aim pursued, and has the effect of excluding people who have a lower level of education from access to such housing". In addition, the High Court of Cassation and Justice finds that given that in Romania the percentage of people aged between 30 and 34 who have completed tertiary education is only about 28% (Eurostat), this criterion is elitist. Also, the Court holds that the neutral appearance of the criterion of education creates, in fact, a form of direct discrimination against the Roma since, according to the latest Census (2011), only 0.7% of them reported having a university degree.

In opposition to the vocation of social housing, these criteria also favour a better financial and employment position, which discriminates against the Roma. Based on the national absolute poverty line, determined on the basis of consumption in 2013, Roma citizens are at ten times higher risk of poverty than the rest of the population. Worryingly, the risk of poverty is extremely high for Roma children - their poverty rate is 37.7%, while the national poverty rate is only 4.3%[8]. ECRI[9] notes that, in Romania, "Roma occupy the most disadvantageous position on the labour market, the lack of social housing persists, and the forced eviction of Roma from their unstable settlements continues, often without relocation solutions".

This discrimination violates the right to housing under Romanian law and international treaties

In Romania, the domestic Housing Law no. 114/1996 states that "free and unrestricted access to housing is a right of every citizen", and mention vulnerable groups as those whose economic situation does not allow them to own or rent a dwelling under market conditions (art.2 c)). Ordinance no. 137/2000 on the prevention and sanctioning of all forms of discrimination also defines the disadvantaged category as a category of persons who are either in a position of inequality in relation to the majority of citizens due to differences in identity from the majority, or who face rejection and marginalisation (art.4). The right to adequate housing is guaranteed in many international human rights treaties to which Romania is a party, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, as well as regional treaties and the (revised) European Social Charter signed by the member states of the Council of Europe.

Racism against Roma populations aggravates the situation of structural discrimination

However, international and national reports show, for the past three decades, continuous and systemic violation of housing rights for the Roma population in Europe, Romania included. As FRA stated, "One of the reasons for the poor housing conditions of  Roma  and  Travellers  is  racial  discrimination,  both  direct  and  indirect. Sometimes, local authorities deny their access to social housing through measures that are directly or indirectly discriminatory against Roma and Travellers."[10] Adding to the issues detailed above, there is also the problem of environmental racism, residential segregation, informal housing and lack of property documents.

Conclusion

The situation of the Roma in Alba Iulia constitutes a severe violation of human rights. It is an urgent matter that requires immediate action for the families who are still living in block G2 and who face destitution, as the local authorities continue with their plan to evict all Roma from the city centre. Instead of protecting their citizens and adopting positive measures for disadvantaged groups, the mayoralty does the opposite. It is time for public authorities to be held accountable and to start fulfilling their role, for all the Roma people and vulnerable people in the city.