The process of building a new house on the same site where an old one was; this method could be seen in most cases not only in Apatin (All photos are from the Municipality of Apatin)
“Bajta” is a traditional type of one family house in North Vojvodina (left); a newly constructed house is very similar to the traditional ones.
development, and currently the biggest investments are in the area of communal infrastructure – reconstruction and construction of new road segments, bicycle lanes and sewage system.” The funds from local voluntary contributions were also used to construct the low-voltage electricity network in the settlement. Following an official decision by the local community association, six households have been granted access to the water sypply system59. Over the past few years, apart from the improvements in infrastructure and streets, the municipality has been supporting the improvements of housing conditions as well60. The activities carried out by the municipality of Apatin for improving the housing conditions in Roma settlement consisted of smart allocations of financial, material and human resources. The municipality provided the materials for reconstruction or construction of houses. Roma families gave five important elements for self-building: work force, their time, their skills, enthusiasm and willingness to live in a decent and healthy home. That is the result of Apatin’s approach. 59 60
“Dnevnik online” http://www.dnevnik.co.yu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=35407 Roma Housing News, No. 14, 16 Apr 2007.
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