Housing and Extreme Poverty. The Case of Roma Communities

This book presents the results of a nationwide study on housing and living conditions in Romany communities in state of extreme poverty. We have carried our research on 36 communities, of which 25 were presented in comprehensive reports. The direct experience provided sufficient material to draw up a typology of housing meant as a tool for community planning and building of low cost, social houses. Our major concern was to find the guidelines for the interventions promoted by local administration and the organizations working with the Romany, strictly implying the construction of habitats and houses, directed to immediate action and implementation of some projects. The intentions were gathered in two chapters: one combining intervention principles and other describing intervention scenarios. We think they can provide good guidance to designers and decision makers in their action. Moreover, they try to avoid the mistakes that have been done so far. We are persuaded by the fact that we could only fight nationwide extreme poverty by approaching a multitude of solutions and possibilities. We have repeatedly emphasized the concept of extreme poverty through our work. In fact, that is the essential problem of the communities we have studied. Our research extends its conclusions to other marginal communities of diverse origin and structure that share the same economic and living conditions with the Romany