This research report presents the main findings of a qualitative survey on the problems of access to adequate housing for people who identify themselves as Roma.
The survey is based on 128 qualitative in-depth interviews and 10 focus groups. 101 in-depth interviews were conducted with Roma living in difficult, deprived and segregated contexts. 27 interviews were carried out with policy makers, administrators, and activists, both locally and at regional and national levels. We studied in France the metropolitan area of Paris, in Italy the metropolitan area of Milan, in Spain the metropolitan area of Barcelona, in Hungary the cities of Gyöngyös and Miskolc, in Romania two municipalities in the historical region of Transylvania, in Singeorgiu de Mures (Mures County) and in Sfântu Gheorghe (Covasna County), in the Orko neighbourhood.
This research report is not aimed at comparing and analysing the urban and territorial specificities of the different cases. It analyses them together in order to highlight the main issues facing Roma in very precarious housing situations.
Interviews and focus group dialogues with experts and policymakers who discussed the importance of producing a renewed supply of social housing and of improving existing residential units, as well as the urban quality of more marginal neighbourhoods, were also analysed.
This is is structured in three main sections, one related to housing conditions, the second one on housing discrimination, and the third one on policies and policies instruments. The conclusions highlight several design and implementation principles that emerge from the research.
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