Kroměříž is preparing the construction of new apartments for seniors in the Račín area

Kroměříž - The Kroměříž city hall is preparing to build new apartments for seniors. In the first phase, a building with eight smaller apartments is planned to be erected in the Dolní Zahrady district in the Račín area. The existing residence of socially disadvantaged inhabitants, mainly Roma, awaits demolition. The city hall intends to build social housing in a different location, Deputy Mayor Pavel Motyčka (KDU-ČSL) told reporters today.

According to him, the state aims in the future to provide homes for seniors who are immobile, seriously ill, and require constant care. Independent seniors should live in similar houses with small apartments. According to Motyčka, the city hall can obtain funding from the state for their construction. The first phase should be followed by others, with more than 30 apartments potentially being created in the area.

There is expected to be a high demand for this subsidized housing, where seniors would pay regulated rent. “We currently have 1,300 requests for placement in Kroměříž's senior homes, which is a huge number,” added Motyčka. The costs for the construction of the first phase will reach 8.8 million crowns, with a subsidy of 4.8 million crowns. “It is quality housing. Each apartment also has a small garden; it is more of a community housing for seniors,” Motyčka added.

The construction of houses for seniors in the Račín area would also resolve long-standing issues between the longtime residents and the Roma living in social housing. “We want to build quality alternative accommodation for the current residents of Račín. Discussions about the location are ongoing,” described the Deputy Mayor. The first house for seniors in Račín is expected to be completed in the first half of 2018. By then, the city would have constructed alternative housing for the socially disadvantaged. This could also involve container houses.

In 2006, this was how the relocation of primarily Roma tenants from a devastated tenement building in the center of the city of Vsetín was resolved. The city hall, led by Mayor Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL), built apartments from container units in the Poschla area on the outskirts of the city, where the majority of socially disadvantaged people were relocated. The tenement building was then demolished.

Some Roma moved to Prostějovsko and Jesenicko, and Vsetín provided them with interest-free loans for the purchase of family houses. The city hall's approach received criticism from Roma, human rights defenders, politicians, and mayors of the municipalities to which the city relocated the Roma. The city hall was also seen to have erred according to the ombudsman. Despite the negative reactions from the surroundings, representatives of Vsetín have defended their chosen solution from the outset.