A group of about 250 refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and socially vulnerable people, currently living in collective centres or inadequate private accommodation, will be provided homes by IOM as part of ongoing efforts to resolve a housing problem among Serbia’s refugee and displaced population.

The construction of about 36 homes and the purchase and installation of a further 12 pre-fabricated houses will help to get the group of refugees, IDPs and particularly vulnerable people living in the municipality of Sremska Mitrovica to re-start their lives after more than 10 years of displacement from the Kosovo conflict and the Balkans war.

With renewed funding of nearly 1.1 million Euros from the European Commission, and in cooperation with government and local partners, the programme will also provide financial and technical support to 60 of the IDPs and vulnerable locals to set up small and medium enterprises, vocational or financial training or help in getting jobs.

A total of 933 IDPs and refugees will have been provided new homes since IOM programme began. An approximate 6,000 displaced people are, nevertheless, still living in collective centres in Serbia. Most of them are poor, elderly, single parents and other vulnerable individuals. For the most part unemployed or under-employed, they rely on social assistance and seasonal employment to get by.

A far greater but underdetermined number is living in private accommodation with very poor living conditions.

Years after the end of the conflicts in the region, Serbia still has 97,000 registered refugees and 200,000 internally displaced people.

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