Albania Struggles to House Homeless Roma

Roma families housed in the Ombudsman's office

Elona Demollari, a spokeswoman, told Balkan Insight that Ombudsman Igli Totozani was working with the Ministry of Labour and Equal Opportunities and the municipality of Tirana to find a solution.

“What the ombudsman has asked from the start is to find a dignified and permanent solution for their housing,” Demollari said.

According to Demollari, eight Roma families comprised of 37 children, of whom 30 are under the age of seven, are currently housed in the Ombudsman’s office.

So far the municipality of Tirana has offered a gym and the ministry and old military barrack to house the Roma families. However, the Ombudsman’s office has said that both structures were not proper and has insisted on a permanent solution.

Totazani took the Roma families in his office last week, after visiting a tent camp where they were housed in the outskirts of Tirana, following an arsonist attack on their shacks a year ago.

Totozani said on Wednesday that he was providing emergency shelter to Roma families living in near-freezing temperatures in a tent camp without heating, electricity and running water.

In a statement on Friday, Amnesty International called on Albanian authorities to immediately provide adequate housing for the Roma families and panned the government for not living up to it obligations.

“Dozens of Romani people, including the elderly and small children, are facing winter on the streets without a roof over their heads, without any certainty about their future security or adequate assistance from the authorities,” said Jezerca Tigani, the rights watchdog's Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director.

“This is the result of decades of failure by the authorities to provide adequate housing for Roma and other vulnerable groups in Albania, despite their national and international obligations,” she added.