A nine-month study on quality, sustainable and affordable housing launched by the Economic and Social Council (CES) demonstrates that one in five households spends more than 60 percent of their income on rent, double the European average. The study recommends the adoption of ten key indicators of maximum national relevance regarding quality housing and the establishment of public policy targets for their improvement.
„Government assistance to poor groups is inadequate, and social housing allocation is non-transparent, as homes go especially to those with high incomes. Romania has ratified a series of international treaties that address issues related to decent housing for vulnerable groups and the right to housing, which are examined in this study, but in practice it does not fulfill its obligations deriving from these regulatory acts”, argue the authors.
The document recommends amending Romania’s Housing Law to introduce obligations and sanctions for county and local authorities responsible for social housing, prohibiting the sale of public housing until the deficit of social housing decreases considerably, stopping sales of all housing built for the youth and granting local authorities pre-emption right for the purchase of housing units or residential buildings, especially of those intended for social housing.
Although 91% of existing building stock consists of residential buildings, only 8% of single-family residential buildings have been renovated in the urban environment and just 3 percent thereof in the rural environment; the share is just 14 percent in the case of collective buildings. In practice, the quality of renovations is verified for only 10% of the few buildings where such work is being carried out.
