Thousands of people live their lives in dilapidated buildings in Bucharest, without electricity, drinking water, or heating. Each morning brings them the same fear: that they will be driven out of there at any moment, without even having time to take their few belongings they’ve gathered in a lifetime.
It’s a poverty that stigmatizes. A world from which few people manage to escape, no matter how hard they try and how much they work, because the authorities don’t help them as they need.
So, instead of seeking a path to improvement, many resign themselves. They raise their children in miserable conditions and even hide them from their neighbors, fearing that the authorities will take them away.
Unfortunately, this way, the problem passes from one generation to another. Children raised on the margins of society risk staying there for life. And - even worse - giving birth to more and more generations of people who will never have a home or the hope of ever living in civilized conditions.
According to data from the Ministry of Development, there are 88 informal settlements in Bucharest, where 2,327 people live.
But this data is incomplete, as stated in a report written by Active Watch with the support of the Parada Foundation, titled "Precarious Housing and Social Housing in Bucharest - Many Strategies, Few Homes," launched on Friday, November 17.
We don't have enough information about these people because "although some of the communities are under the attention of the social assistance directorates of the sectors and meet the criteria based on which the law defines informal settlements, they are not recognized as informal settlement forms and are not reported to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration."
In short: we don't know exactly how many people live wherever they can, in these so-called "informal settlements." But we do know for sure that there are many.
Heartbreaking stories of homeless people
For a year and a half, Active Watch and Parada monitored the lives of people from two informal settlements. One is located on Rodica Street in Sector 2. And the other near the Ciurel Bridge, in Sector 6.
At the end of the monitoring, Irina Zamfirescu, a human rights activist at Active Watch, wrote the report "Precarious Housing and Social Housing in Bucharest - Many Strategies, Few Homes."
In the first part, the report describes how people who are always on the streets live their lives. Many shelter in abandoned buildings. Until the owners come with the police to evict them.
A mother told the author of the report that, after an eviction, she was forced to go to a former abandoned factory, without windows and doors, in the winter, in the cold. She had with her five children, and the youngest had just turned 4 months old. She sent someone to collect rugs from doors, from blocks, to have something to cover the family at night. Later, she started collecting bricks to build a stove herself.
"The big problem is that the evacuated families have nowhere to go. The only place is a block made available by Gigi Becali, where people don't pay rent and utilities (but where not everyone can fit, and people don't know how long they can stay - ed.).
Otherwise, the authorities offer the solution: the mother and children to the shelter for victims of domestic violence, and the men to other night shelters. You know that it's said that the family is the cell of society? Well, the authorities like to break it up," said Irina Zamfirescu.
"Unfortunately, even separated, family members may not find their place. Last week I was at the Prefecture, out of over 1,500 documented homeless people, there are about 500 night shelter places.
And anyway, only those who have an ID in the respective sector have access to the shelter. Otherwise, it's pointless," said Ionuț Jugureanu, the executive director of the Parada Foundation.
Another problem is that the evacuation of these people from the places where they manage to settle is done violently. Sometimes with police and excavators.
"Sometimes they give us 20 minutes, like that. He came with the excavator over us. My mother was left with the gas cylinder, the refrigerator, everything (...) Only Mr. Ionuț [the director of the Parada Foundation] knows, poor guy, how many beds, wardrobes, closets he brought us. But if we stay here, the masked police come. Out of fear, we take our children. Do we care about things anymore? Get out with the children, and if you're lucky, take at least the documents," say the people quoted in the report.
Irina Zamfirescu says that the authorities have no respect for the little that homeless people manage to gather.
"There is no protocol regarding the goods of the evacuees. I read minutes in which they were called 'goods without market value.' But that's all the people have gathered in a lifetime!" explained Irina Zamfirescu at the launch event of the report "Precarious Housing and Social Housing in Bucharest - Many Strategies, Few Homes."
What we don't understand about homeless people
We are tempted to believe that people who live informally don't work, don't earn money, and therefore can't afford to pay rent.
In many cases, things are not like that, Irina Zamfirescu also said.
Many of the homeless people work. For example, they collect bottles and old iron to try to sell them to make a living.
Troubles begin when the police (especially the local ones) fine people who do these jobs, and the fines accumulate.
The reason: when a stable homeless person finally finds a legal job (usually paid with the minimum wage), they will have to endure the seizures until the fines are paid. This means that out of about 2,000 lei net earned monthly, the person would receive just over 1,300 lei in hand. Obviously, an insufficient amount to pay rent, utilities, and food.
"In 2021, I participated in the launch of the report of the Local Police of Bucharest Municipality, which made a glorious title out of the fact that 75% of the fines issued in 2020 were for begging. There is the idea that these fines have no effect. That 'anyway, they don't discourage them, anyway, they don't pay them.' But the effects are incredible on these people. On the one hand, they avoid being legally employed. Because then the state starts to execute them. And even more worrying is that social benefits are conditioned by the fines received by the parents. Which... I don't even know how to explain how unfair it is. For example, the help against school dropout given by the PMB - which yes, is a benefit - does not reach the most vulnerable children in Bucharest. Because usually, they have parents with fines," Irina Zamfirescu also said.
Another prejudice is that informal housing is free. It's not. Abandoned or precarious buildings don't have utilities. Those who live in them are forced to take electricity or water from neighbors, who charge them money. Sometimes, even more than they should.
Lack of electricity also means a lack of electrical appliances. In the summer, a family living in a ruin cannot cook for several days because it would spoil. And that means the family will spend more money to buy something to eat daily.
Other problems, but also some solutions
One solution would be the existence of more social housing.
According to the report signed by Irina Zamfirescu, in July, there were 14,262 requests for social housing registered in Bucharest. And there were only 6 free social housing units in Sector 4.
However, only people who can complete a file through which they can apply have even a slight chance of getting these housing units.
Many illiterate and undocumented people, who move from one ruin to another, are not helped by the town halls and social assistance directorates to prepare a file.
And even if they were helped, the criteria for allocation - established by each town hall, respecting certain laws - are discriminatory.
So, often, it's precisely the people who need social housing the most who don't have access to it.
There are also allowances for rent payment, offered by the town halls.
Unfortunately, Irina Zamfirescu claims, even these are not helpful in many cases.
The reason: the rent allowance is not paid in advance. And when signing a contract, the landlord asks for a deposit and payment of rent in advance. And people without stable housing don't have thousands of lei for these expenses.
If the landlord refuses to register the lease with the tax authorities, the town hall cannot pay the rent allowance.
In addition, many homeowners refuse to let Roma families into their homes, especially if they have many children.
"Housing has become a market commodity. If you want to live somewhere, you buy a house. It's contrary to the right to life, in some situations," Irina Zamfirescu also said.
Ciucu: "We have housing for 250 families and we can't give it to them! I feel like doing it illegally and paying the fine!"
Sector 6 City Hall has almost finished work on several social housing blocks on Alexandru Ivasiuc Street.
"We have 250 social housing units almost ready. We could assign them quickly, but we don't have some authorizations from the PMB for electricity and water connection. And I can't just put those people there like that. 250 families that could have been there, in the houses on Alexandru Ivasiuc Street, this winter, can you imagine?! I feel like doing it illegally. To get fines from the ISC, but to know that I'm putting people there," said Ciprian Ciucu.
The mayor of Sector 6 also said he wants to build decent housing for the community near the Ciurel Bridge.
"The question is: will I be able to give those people the houses when others are ahead of them on the social housing application lists?" Ciucu also stated.
Until the construction of new social housing, Sector 6 City Hall is trying to help the informal community in other ways. For example, by ensuring better cleanliness in the area.
Mihaiu: "There is a risk of ghettoization. There are also other solutions, besides social housing"
The mayor of Sector 2, Radu Mihaiu, is also experimenting with solutions for people who don't have access to adequate housing.
"Housing is a complicated subject. I believe less in the concept of public housing. I think there is a need for social housing. We're trying to look outside, at what's happening. We're trying out several options. We will build housing for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds under the PNRR. There is a fear in society that it will ghettoize. In other countries, social housing does not mean 1-2-5 blocks where marginalized people live together. But maybe they are integrated into a community that doesn't have social housing. There are models. Social renting. There should be more NGOs that can rent, having credibility, from the free market, which later rent them to people in marginalized situations. We have those lockers where homeless people can leave their luggage or charge their phones. Building social housing is one of the potential solutions, but I don't think it's the only one," Radu Mihaiu specified.
Bogdan Suditu, an expert on housing issues, said that on December 8, the PMB will start discussions to clarify who needs to do what to solve the situation.
"There is a lot of will to harmonize things. And we want to do it, starting from December 8, when we have the first meeting, to establish everything that needs to be done. And to find the way that respects the laws. You know well that since 2017, there is a law that provides that at any retrocession, 2% of the value should go to a social housing fund. No one has collected that money," Suditu also said.