Objectives - Why this project and for whom?

The objective of the project was to study the housing situation of Roma and Travellers across the EU, highlighting significant initiatives that improve their living conditions. This would provide the FRA with the essential evidence upon which to draw conclusions and opinions to be addressed to the Community institutions and EU Member States, in order to assist them in developing appropriate policies and measures to improve the situation.

Details - What does the project involve?

Six case studies were carried out through fieldwork research, using face-to-face semi-structured interviews with individuals, Roma representatives, local politicians and other local stakeholders. The different case studies dealt with specific aspects in the various countries concerned and addressed a variety of different forms of direct and indirect racial/ethnic discrimination, showing how the housing situation affects other key areas of life, such as education, employment, health, etc.

In 2008, the FRA launched EU-MIDIS (European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey), the first and largest EU-wide survey of its kind to collect comparable data on selected immigrant and minority groups' experiences of discrimination in access to goods and services, including experiences of criminal victimisation. The contractor was asked to incorporate and analyse relevant results from the FRA's EU-MIDIS in the form of a working paper.

The comparative report to result from the project relies on information collected by the RAXEN Thematic Studies and key findings from the case studies and the analysis of the EU-MIDIS survey, as well as additional information to be obtained by the contractor. The analysis presents an overview of EU and international strategies on housing of Roma and Travellers, and highlights significant preventive initiatives at the international, European, national and local level for improving their living conditions and combating discrimination and racism in this area.

The findings of the project were presented at a one-day roundtable conference in Brussels on 20 October 2009 with around 100 participants including representatives of key EU and international institutions and relevant stakeholders including representatives of Roma civil society.

Innovation - What's 'new' about the project?

The comparative report added to and built upon information collected by the RAXEN Thematic Studies of the situation of Roma and Travellers in Housing (secondary research), the key findings from the case studies (primary research), as well as the analysis of the EU-MIDIS survey (quantitative data).

Outputs - What did the project deliver?

The project resulted in a number of deliverables, namely: A comparative report (PDF) of the housing situation of Roma and Travellers in the EU Member States including an executive summary, annexed fact-sheets summarising the key findings of the comparative report, the working paper and the case studies; a working paper on Roma and Travellers' experiences of discrimination in housing, incorporating and further analysing selected results on housing from EU-MIDIS; six (6) case studies (PDF); one roundtable conference (PDF) with around 100 participants. See more

FRA Programme: WP 2009, ref: 2.2.2

Related Information

In December 2007, the European Commission requested a comparative report on the situation of Roma and Travellers across the European Union. After consulting with stakeholders, including the Council of Europe and the EU Commission, the FRA decided to focus on housing.
The project was adopted by the Agency's Management Board and included in its Work Programme 2008.

This project page was last updated on 17.09.12