OSCE provides further support to improve housing for vulnerable groups

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro participated on 18 May 2017 in the foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of 51 apartments in Konik Camp, Podgorica, financed under the Regional Housing Programme (RHP).

The apartments, expected to be completed by mid-2018, will house 171 families currently living in substandard conditions in the Konik Camp. They are being built in addition to 120 apartments already under construction at the same location, which will be handed over to beneficiary families at the end of this year.  

Speakers at the event were Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Kemal Purisic, Deputy Mayor of Podgorica, Boris Mogusa, Director General for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy of the European Commission Christian Danielsson, Deputy-Governor of the Development Bank of the Council of Europe Rosa María Sánchez-Yebra Alonso and UNCHR Regional Representative Anne Christine Eriksson, Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Maryse Daviet, Balkans Regional Refugee Coordinator at the American Embassy in Belgrade, Sam Healy. All emphasized the importance of the project for the beneficiaries.  

Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro Daviet commended the authorities for their leadership in this important project and for their excellent co-operation with all partners involved.  “It is their hard work in the implementation of the RHP that is making a difference in the lives of these vulnerable families,” she said, highlighting the continuous efforts of all partners in further advancing the agenda of the Sarajevo Process dedicated to finding durable solutions for displaced persons from the 1991-1995 conflicts.  

In co-ordination with the UNHCR Office in Montenegro, the OSCE Mission supports the relevant national authorities in selecting beneficiaries for projects under the RHP.