On 19 May, the Poverty Reduction Committee held a sitting in the form of a roundtable considering the Social Housing Bill. The sitting was chaired by Snezana Stojanovic-Plavsic, Committee Chairperson.

National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic took part in the sitting saying that she will make sure the Bill finds itself on the National Assembly’s agenda as soon as possible. She called upon the deputies to contribute to improve the proposed solutions in a constructive way so as to help socially underprivileged groups, the poor and families with many children in particular, to be placed into housing as soon as possible. The National Assembly Speaker reminded that construction of tenements is one of the most profitable economic branches in Serbia, but that a large number of citizens cannot buy a flat under market conditions which results in fewer marriages, drain of experts and increase of homelessness. The Bill sets the foundations for a through system of social aid for households that cannot solve their housing issues on the market, Assembly Speaker Djukic-Dejanovic pointed out.

Assistant Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Nebojsa Janjic said that the Bill aims to once again, after two decades, provide public intervention in this area using social housing policy measures and instruments. He said that social housing flats will not be sold, but leased under lower rates than the market ones.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy Ljiljana Lucic stressed that the development of social housing is an essential element of social integration. She also expressed her belief that the passing of this Bill will contribute to achieve human rights, reduce poverty and improve the position of the most endangered groups. The Committee members endorsed the Social Housing Bill and deemed that it creates the conditions which afford socially endangered households the opportunity to solve their housing needs with the help of the state. The Committee requested that the Bill be included into an agenda for a National Assembly sitting as soon as possible.

The roundtable was also attended by the Deputy Head of the UNICEF Serbia Office, Maria Luisa Fornara, Director of the Urban Development Programme Djordje Mojovic and representative of Group 484 Miodrag Shrestha.