Ministry of Development, Public Works and Housing, Bucharest

• The first public debates that touch on the issue of informal settlements are taking place during this period and local non-governmental organizations with similar interests (such as PACT Foundation, MKBT: Make Better, Habitat for Humanity Romania, CeRe Resource Center for Public Participation), as well as professionals in the field (such as OAR, Faculty of Sociology, Faculty of Geography – University of Bucharest) mobilised themselves into a Housing Coalition, which aimed to identify the main challenges and solutions in this field, so that they can then be later included in the Anti-Poverty Package.
• MKBT organizes a workshop on housing in Făgăraș, together with representatives and technical managers of the City Hall of Făgăraș, as well as representatives of civil society, with the aim of increasing the capacity of local administration, social partners and specialized service providers to identify, prioritize and implement complex measures in the housing field in Făgăraș Municipality, including the topic of informal settlements.

Reșița & Bumbești-Jiu

• In 2016, MKBT supported the process of establishing the Local Action Group of Reşița with the aim of creating a platform for working and collaboration between public institutions, civil society organisations, economic operators, representatives of marginalised communities in the city in order to identify needs, to find and implement solutions for urban regeneration of the marginalised neighbourhoods in the city. In 2017, the Local Action Group of Reşița joined efforts to combat informal housing.
• In a similar way, DEP Association in Bumbeşti-Jiu, created with the support of PACT Foundation within the framework of the zefiR project, has been involved in researching the phenomenon of informal living at the local level.

Bucharest

• The Valea Corbului report – an (a)typical informal settlement. Debate on the issues of informal settlements in Romania is submitted to the main competent institutions and the initiating organisations – PACT Foundation and MKBT: Make Better – aim to address together the identified issues.
• August 2017 – PACT Foundation and MKBT: Make Better start the project „No man’s land: informal housing in Roma communities, recognition, responsibility and shared solutions”, whereby, together with local partners such as GAL Reşița, DEP Bumbeşti-Jiu Association, the Action Group of Valea Corbului, aim to build a favourable legislative and financial framework for solving informal housing issues.

Bucharest

• The report of the research Informal Housing in Romania, developed by MKBT: Make Better and PACT Foundation, offered the first structured information on the phenomenon of informal housing, as defined worldwide and, most importantly, details the causes and effects of this phenomenon in Romania, while also indicating the main measures necessary for formalizing and solving the social problems of this type of housing.
• The analysis of the relevant legal framework in the field of informal housing in Romania – report developed by the partners of the No Man’s Land project, lists both national legislation and international agreements by which Romania assumes the role to recognize and resolve housing problems. The authors point out the absence of the definition or any mention of informal settlements in the Romanian legislation.
• A third research carried out within the framework of the No Man’s Land project – Analysis of national and EU-funded programmes and their current impact on informal housing – follows the strategic framework and national and European funding mechanisms targeting informal settlements.
• SOS Informal housing in Romania (No Man’s Land exhibition and debate at One World Romania – Human Rights Documentary Festival). More than 40 participants from various fields – from public administration, private companies, NGOs, representatives of affected communities – analyzed the phenomenon of informal living in Romania.
• No Man’s Land at Street Delivery Bucharest – The first stand that recreates a precarious informal settlement invites participants to reflect and inform themselves on the occasion of Romania’s most famous urban festival. The message of the informal settlement at Street Delivery has been spreading throughout the national press.
• International experts – Sasha Tsenkova, Julien Damon, Ashemt Elezovski – support the initiative to formalize the informal settlements and offer examples of best practices from other countries (Serbia, France, Macedonia) – in the presence of representatives of the General Secretariat of the Government, MDRAP, the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising (ANCPI), the National Agency for the Roma (ANR) – during the working event Solutions for informal settlements in Bucharest. More than 30 relevant actors contribute proposals and amendments to the legislative proposal draft initiated by PATC Foundation and MKBT: Make Better during the four thematic working groups.
• August 2018 – consultations with members of Parliament and working visits (in two localities with informal settlements: Valea Corbului (Arges County), Slatina (Olt County)) for the validation of the legislative proposal.
• 12 September 2018 – Workshop dedicated to improving the legislative proposal for the formalization of informal settlements at Housing Forum 2018. The situation of more than 200,000 „invisible” Romanians becomes the title of press materials following the event dedicated to housing that year.

January

• Following all consultations, in January 2019, we launched 2 action guides on informal settlements in Romania, one for the local public administration authorities and one for the communities living in informal settlements.

• In February 2019, we organised meetings with the local (Braşov and Reșita) and central authorities at MDRAP, where we discussed the legislative proposal and improved it, but we also discussed future legislative changes needed for an integrated approach to informal housing.
• In March, PACT Foundation and MKBT: Make Better participated in a debate organised by the Committee on European Affairs where we outlined the fact that beyond the legislative framework, resources are needed for informal settlements in Romania – namely, integrated financial instruments that take into account the complexity of this phenomenon and provide sustainable solutions for people in informal settlements.
• The issue was also discussed in two international meetings, where MKBT presented the results of the project and discussed with international organisations possible coalitions and possible working plans on the subject.

• In August 2019, Law 151/2019 on informal settlements in Romania was promulgated. PACT Foundation and MKBT: Make Better, is committed to remaining actors involved in solving the problem of informal housing in Romania.