Lost in Transition: The Legacies of Yugoslav Policies on Serbian Roma’s Housing Insecurities

Abstract

The Roma are one of Europe’s most historically disadvantaged and persecuted minorities. Many of them live in countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), where both the socialist period and recent market transition appear to have excluded them from societal successes. One of the most egregious issues Roma face is in the realm of housing – many live in poor quality housing or have insufficient access to key facilities such as running water. Besides the negative impact this has on their well-being, the consequences of poor housing also affects their ability to access education and employment.

However, the housing struggle of many Roma is not uniform in its traits throughout the formerly-socialist countries. The Roma of the post-Yugoslav states, for example, appear to have slightly better access to certain facilities than elsewhere while still being categorized as living in “insecure housing” conditions. Living in social apartment housing, albeit more common for Roma in other CEE countries, is not common at all in the post-Yugoslav states. Although some scholars make the claim that Yugoslavia was a more tolerant state than its contemporaries, the current state of Roma in its successor states has little to show for any past “successes”. How has this occurred?

At the core of this thesis is the theme of past legal informality turning into present insecurity. By examining the role of the unique Yugoslav tenet of self-management and its impact on variant ethnic recognition laws as well as housing distribution, it finds that Roma occupied a marginal status in Yugoslavia’s ethnic-based political hierarchy, while the country’s general housing crisis prevented specifically addressing a Roma housing problem. Illegal construction on state land, albeit not problematic in the past because of the state’s tolerant attitude, has had serious consequences in the present – often justifying short-notice forced evictions. Serbia is taken as a specific focus due to its high Roma population and the importance of its urban centers, especially Belgrade.

The legacies of Yugoslav policy on the Roma of Serbia today are mainly twofold. The Yugoslav state’s tolerance of illegal construction has shaped the modern distribution of housing stock and the relatively low number of social housing units. Simultaneously, the same past political marginality of Roma disadvantaged them in the state-building process following dissolution. Marginality in housing and political rights also appear as concurrent and deeply related problems.

Through exploring these many themes, this thesis shows the nuanced nature of the Roma housing problem, and shows that understanding the legacies of past policies is vital to properly addressing them in the present.