Fatime: No one brought me; I just came in because I found
it empty. I heard people saying: “The moment you find something empty get in
there, do not stay on the street, people with experience told me this. And I
found this place empty so I walked in, after a came in I thought and went to
the municipality and reported it. No one in the municipality told me to come
here, or go there, or anywhere else
Fatime, a 72 year old
lady, who lives in an improvised shack in “the hospital block” in Pristina, one
of hundreds of homeless people currently living in the municipality.
Some of them come from
poor backgrounds and have spent years living in improvised shelters or sleeping
in hallways of Pristina buildings. Others came from rural areas after their
houses were destroyed during the war and are trying to find their place in
Pristina in hope that, at the end, they will be able to find a job, or a
permanent shelter.
So what’s being done to
help the homeless? We spoke to Mr. Shkelzen Rexhaj, the head of the
“sheltering” sector in Prishtina municipality, who told us that, thanks to
donors, there was some rebuilding in rural areas, for those whose homes were
destroyed. But not much was done in the city.
Shkelzen Rexhaj: We assisted in rural areas,
also urban ones. But they were more interested in rebuilding in rural zones-
they must have intended to lure the population coming from those areas to go
back to living in their homes again.
Shkelzen Rexhaj: The category of “social
homeless”- people who, for various reasons became homeless, before or after the
war. A little has been done about them in Prishtina municipality. I could say,
very little. The main reason is that, never minding our insisting, our endless
requests, the responsible municipal structures - the municipal assembly and
other organs - didn’t support us. They said that there is no budget for that
category of people- it means that there are no funds for these issues.
But, adds Mr Rexhaj, when we talk about homeless we should
make a clear distinction between the people from Prishtina municipality and
those who came after their homes were destroyed elsewhere. He says that,
although both categories are full of sad cases, Prishtina municipality is
responsible only for Prishtina residents and no one else:
Shkelzen Rexhaj: these two categories are not
the same since we are not responsible for the people who came from other
municipalities. If we can use that expression since someone should take care of
them too. But they should solve the shelter problem in the municipalities from
which they came. Now, when we speak about the category of the people who were
homeless even before the war – something should be done about them. But there
are so many requests…
And the number of
requests, right now, is reaching several hundreds. Those are only the cases
that have applied to the municipality. There is no data about the real number
of the homeless, says Shkelzen Rexhaj, but the number could be close to a
thousand.
Shkelzen Rexhaj: The only way for us to get those
data is through requests they give to the municipality. We do not have any
other possibilities since we do not have a mechanism that would allow us to go
out and check. The only way is through the requests. The ones who have requested
shelter are treated as homeless cases.
Even those who have
applied do not have too much to hope for. There was one building, managed by
the municipality and the US-based NGO ADRA which was used as a community
shelter right after the war. But, well over a year ago, the building, close to
Germija swimming pool, went under the jurisdiction of the ministry of Education
and the homeless were removed some with the help of the police. There was no
other shelter supplied for them and the building is officially empty since,
though a couple of families have returned and are living there illegally.
Mr. Rexhaj says that,
unfortunately, there was not much the municipality could have done. His
department has even tried to provide shelter for the homeless in other
municipal buildings but not much was done since. Thanks to well-known municipal
property problems, it was either impossible to find an empty building or even
determine which buildings it owns.
Shkelzen
Rexhaj: unfortunately we couldn’t do
anything in this direction. All forms of shelter, the places where they are
staying now it was however they managed for themselves. While we didn’t provide
shelter for anyone in an institutional way. Because, realistically speaking, we
didn’t have one single building. I am saying this because the buildings were
illegally occupied.
So, it seems, that there
will be no fast solution for the problems of the homeless in Prishtina. At least not until there is a budget change
in the municipality, or a priority change in the municipal assembly.
With this we close today’s
edition of Unmik on Air.