Marginalized Communities Housing and Living Condition Diagnostic

The Government of Bulgaria requested the World Bank’s support in assessing the housing and living conditions of marginalized communities in the Northwestern (NW) region of the country, with an explicit but not exclusive focus on the Roma population. The objective of this assessment was to support the government in developing a program “Improving the Housing Conditions of vulnerable populations” by providing a baseline assessment of housing and living conditions of marginalized communities in 3 districts ( Montana, Vratsa, Vidin).

To achieve this objective, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW) identified five municipalities in the NW region as those requiring the most urgent attention. The World Bank team undertook an initial desk review of existing literature and official statistics that provided national and subnational level information on poverty, demographic trends, hazard risks, and overall housing sector performance. This information was further complemented by questionnaires completed by the authorities of the five target municipalities. The questionnaires gathered data on available programs at the municipal level and on municipal government support needs.

The questionnaires also indicated potential data gaps. In the absence of available recent quantitative data on housing and living conditions at the municipal, settlement, and neighborhood levels, the team undertook a qualitative assessment across the five municipalities to obtain an in-depth view of community and stakeholder perceptions. The report presents the synthesized findings from these assessments (combining the various data sources) to identify policy bottlenecks and opportunities for two types of dwellers in the selected neighborhoods: 1) dwellers of marginalized housing units and 2) dwellers of the government-subsidized social housing units.

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