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OSCE Office in Zagreb (closed)

Post-conflict housing care

Milutin Okresa (left), and Momir Vukmirovic of the OSCE Office in Zagreb's Housing Care Unit, in front of the house provided for the six-member Okresa family, Vukovar, 2 March 2009. (OSCE/Dorijan Klasnic) Photo details
The Housing Care activities of the Office to Zagreb continue the Returnee Integration activities of the former Mission to Croatia.

The OSCE's field operations in Croatia have helped the country's authorities enable people who were displaced during the war to return home. This work has been a priority since 1996, when the OSCE Mission to Croatia opened.

Initially, the OSCE Mission's support included monitoring the government's reconstruction of war-damaged homes owned by minority refugees and the repossession of returnees' occupied houses. Until the end of 2007, more than 70 percent of the 195,000 homes destroyed during the war were reconstructed. The Mission also advised the government and local authorities on issues related to the return and integration process, such as access to housing, minority employment policy and infrastructure.

In preparation for the closure of the OSCE Mission to Croatia in December 2007 and the opening of its successor, the OSCE Office in Zagreb, the government and the OSCE agreed to co-operate to help returnees who had lost tenancy rights to socially owned apartments in which they lived before the war.

The government, supported by the OSCE Office, established a Housing Care programme that also encouraged the return of minorities – mostly ethnic Serbs – to the country. The OSCE Office is monitoring the programme, which includes set benchmarks to measure progress.

The benchmarks specify how many housing issues need to be resolved, including numbers of families to be housed. Applicants approved by the government either receive a lease for a flat, repairs to an existing damaged home, or land and construction materials to build a house.

From 2007 to September 2011, a total of 4,915 families were able to return to their homes. In addition, the Government of Croatia has decided to continue providing housing care to former occupancy and tenancy rights (OTR) holders. The Government's estimate is that a further 2,700 former OTR holder families (circa 7,000 individuals) could be eligible. The programme will be finalised by the end of 2014.

In addition to providing housing advice and consultation to the government, the OSCE Mission and the OSCE Office also have supported individuals who have approached the OSCE with their concern regarding housing matters. Such support includes advice on how to solve problems related to housing matters and infrastructure. The OSCE often discussed such issues with municipal authorities to find solutions.