A new home for 250 refugee families in Ovča

A great day for 250 refugee families from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, who received the keys to their apartments in Ovča.

The ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.

"Dear residents, those of you who are receiving the keys to your homes today, thank you for gathering here. These apartments will allow you to live your lives looking ahead, turned towards a secure and happy future,” the president emphasized.

The event was also attended by the Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia Emanuele Giuffre, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Jan Bratu, Ambassador of Germany Anke Konrad, Minister of European Integration Tanja Miščević, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy Nikola Selaković, Mayor of Belgrade Aleksandar Šapić, Director of the Public Sector Projects Implementation Ltd Belgrade Dušan Kovačević, Project Manager of the Council of Europe Development Bank Darko Petrovic, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of Serbia, Nataša Stanisavljević, as well as representatives of other state and international organizations and institutions, and others.

Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia, Emmanuel Giaufret, said that the sentence "having a roof over your head" is now becoming a reality for 250 families, who will receive a permanent housing solution.

"I know that you have gone through difficult times during the wars of the 1990s. Some of you have lost loved ones, and all of you have lost your home and you are separated from the spaces that meant a lot to you," Giaufret said.

The apartments in Ovča were built as part of the eighth sub-project of the Regional Housing Program. The total gross area of the building is 23.000 m2, and the value of the works is about 12.143.601 euros.
As part of the third sub-project of this Program, 235 housing units were built. The beneficiaries of these apartments moved in in March 2018.

The Regional Housing Programme is a joint multi-year programme of the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia, which aims to provide durable housing solutions for the most vulnerable refugee families in the region.

It is implemented with the support of the OSCE, UNHCR and the Council of Europe Development Bank, and is financed by the European Union, which is also the largest donor, the United States, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.