Today one of the biggest challenge Europe has to face after its enlargement, is the poor socio-economic conditions of the Romani people, which is unacceptable at the beginning of the 21st century. The “Europe 2020” strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, outlines five targets to be achieved by 2020, and social inclusion and poverty reduction is one of them. According to the recent statistics there are around 10 000 million people, currently spread all over Europe, but predominantly in South-Eastern part of the continent. Their camps and ghettos are in the cities all over Europe such as: Paris (France), Rome (Italy), Belgrade (Serbia), but the largest are in Romania and Bulgaria The Bulgaria Strategy for Regional Development 2012-2022 is aligned with the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. However, steps to improve the housing conditions in Roma neighborhoods have been mostly sporadic and/or short term solutions, in particular due to the illegal status of many of the houses in the Roma communities. In the past, the national and regional governments have approached these communities with culturally inappropriate infrastructure and technical solutions, resulting in the continued marginalization of this ethnic group and the development of mutual distrust about the motivations and efficiency of interventions in public improvements.
In 2014/2015 the foundation “Trust for Social Achievements” an NGO with a main goal to support the poorest part of Bulgarian populations, focused on Romani people, and the municipality of 3 cities, signed memorandum for collaboration. Our project is located in one of these cities, in the outskirts of the city of Peshtera, in neighborhood called Lukowitza. The site has an area of 30 982 square meters. The property is currently not regulated, there is no basic infrastructure such as: water, electricity, roads and etc. However there are around 20-30 illegal Romani houses already built on the site. The project proposes to keep and upgrade as much of the existing buildings as possible, as well as the already established special configurations they offer. Further development of the area is envisioned, building a total of 60 houses with the use of waste materials as the main building component.