Interview: helping to ensure quality housing for returnees

The OSCE Office in Zagreb's Housing Care Unit has a key partner in Anna-Maria Radic, Head of the Regional Development Ministry's Directorate for Areas of Special State Concern, which is responsible for the allocation of housing to former occupancy/tenancy rights holders. In this interview with Dorijan Klasnic, the Office's Public Affairs Assistant, Radic speaks about the Directorate's work.

OSCE: Could you first of all tell us something about yourself and your work experience? How long have you been the Head of the Directorate, and what is the scope of its activities?

Anna-Maria Radic: I was appointed Head of the Directorate for Areas of Special State Concern (ASSC, the places most affected by the conflicts) in June 2008 but I have been working here for a long time. With regard to activities carried out by the Ministry, I think they are going well. Our Directorate is one of the biggest in the Ministry, as it covers activities related to the ASSC, the largest part of which covers issues dealing with provision of housing care.

OSCE: When did the housing care programme for former occupancy/tenancy rights (OTR) holders begin, and what is its aim?

Anna-Maria Radic: The provision of housing care for former OTR holders in the ASSC began at the same time as for other beneficiaries, when the amendments were introduced to the Law on the ASSC in the summer of 2002. At the end of that year we started collecting the first applications, although the operation had started even earlier through the reconstruction programme. In mid-2003, a regulation was adopted which defined the provision of housing care to OTR holders outside the ASSC and the submission of applications started. The deadline for the submission of applications outside the ASSC was 30 September 2005, while inside the ASSC it is still open.

OSCE: What is the basic difference between housing care inside the ASSC and outside?

Anna-Maria Radic: The provision of housing care inside the ASSC is defined by the Law on ASSC, which envisages slightly more models and possibilities for housing care provision. Outside the ASSC, housing care falls within the special government programme that was established in 2003 and subsequently strengthened with a government decision in 2008 which specifies that persons will be allocated apartments for lease. Inside the ASSC the beneficiaries can buy the allocated housing, while outside the area there is no such possibility.

With regard to establishing eligibility for housing care, there is no difference between the ASSC and the areas outside it. Applicants must not own any other property, or to be more precise, any other property fit for human habitation.

OSCE: The Ministry has started the signing of lease contracts with beneficiaries who have received housing units for lease. When is the purchase of the state-owned apartments assigned to beneficiaries inside the ASSC expected to happen?

Anna-Maria Radic: In the ASSC we are the owner of just under 14,000 apartments - that is, the state owns the apartments but the register of titles has not yet been completed. In spring 2007 we started an intensive registration of title process for these properties, mostly for the apartments. This joint action is being carried out by our Ministry, the Ministry of Justice and the State Attorney's Office with the assistance of other state bodies such as the Croatian Privatization Fund. By the end of 2008 we had registered just over 5,300 apartments.

With regard to the APN (the state real-estate agency in charge of purchasing housing units, which are subsequently allocated as housing care), they have purchased approximately 10,000 property units so far and most of those buildings are properly registered. I also have to emphasize here that for some 300 houses purchased by the APN which were converted into apartment buildings, we are conducting a registration of condominiums.

In the course of last year we began the sale of state-owned apartments but the process has been rather slow so far. Of course, the number of property units that needs to be evaluated is large and our people in the field are currently conducting inspections and have been asking individual beneficiaries whether they are interested in the purchase of apartments or they wish to remain lessees.

There is also a portion of properties that are being donated. Those eligible for donations are Croatian war veterans and veterans of the Croatian Military Forces, based on the 2005 and 2006 Decrees of the Government which were incorporated last year into the adopted new Law on the ASSC.

OSCE: How many requests for housing care have you received, how many beneficiaries have you already provided with housing, and what still remains to be resolved?

Anna-Maria Radic: A total of 13,505 requests were submitted for the provision of housing care for former OTR holders, 8,963 in the ASSC, and 4,562 outside the areas. Some 8,500 positive decisions have been issued already, with 7,000 in the ASSC and around 1,500 outside. We have issued negative decisions, or procedures were halted, with regard to 2,400 requests, both in and outside the ASSC.

OSCE: By what deadline do you expect to resolve the remaining cases and through which housing care models?

Anna-Maria Radic: By the end of 2006, we had resolved the cases of 3,300 former OTR holders in the ASSC, while in 2007 we resolved around 1,400 such cases. In the course of last year, another 1,427 cases reached the administrative resolution stage and the beneficiaries are at various stages of moving in.

What remains to be resolved this year are 2,346 requests which have received positive decisions. According to our programmes, those cases are included in the benchmark for 2008 - they are administratively resolved, which means the applicants' eligibility to receive housing care has been confirmed. They have now been included in the plan for 2009 due to budgetary reasons. This means that the cases of more than 5,000 OTR holders will be resolved within the 2007-2009 benchmarks.

OSCE: What are your priorities for the coming months, and what, in your opinion, should be completed by the summer?

Anna-Maria Radic: Around mid-2009 we will have most of the addresses for the housing care beneficiaries. Outside the ASSC, the situation is slightly different because we cannot know the addresses until we have bought the apartments. Within the ASSC we currently have around 1,300 apartments under reconstruction, some of which will be completed this year and the remainder by the first half of 2010.

OSCE: What message would you like to send to Croatian citizens who are still refugees and have not yet applied for housing care?

Anna-Maria Radic: I would like to inform the remaining people who still have not made a decision about returning and have not submitted requests for the provision of housing care but are former OTR holders, that the deadline for applications in the ASSC has still not expired and they are free to apply. We had some 300 new requests submitted for the ASSC in 2008, so if they decide to return, they can still submit a request.