Habitat for Humanity Romania

Contact information HFH Romania Str. Al. Motilor, Bl. AN6, ap. 8 Beius 415200 Bihor Romania Phone: +40 213113025 Fax: +40 213113025 E-mail: emil.olteanu@habitat.ro         Web site www.habitat.ro				Habitat's Work in Romania Number of families served this year*: 13 Full house sponsorship cost: US$27,920 Incremental house sponsorship cost: US$4,170         Romania News and Stories Habitat pilots new building technology in Romania ‘Casa Buna’ builds under way in Romania Consolis Group tackles poverty housing – and teamwork – in Romania, Poland
Country profile

Housing Need
The second largest country in Central and Eastern Europe with a population of 21.6 million, Romania has a growing middle-income class, yet poverty persists in the country, with more than 15 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Some 2.4 million Romanians live in extreme poverty, while another 1.2 million are struggling to secure basic daily needs.

The unemployed, farmers and housewives are the social categories most affected by severe poverty. Two-thirds of Romania's poor live in rural areas despite the country's substantial potential in agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

In 2005 and 2006, Romania faced the worst floods in the last 100 years and July 2008 brought new floods in the northern counties, leaving thousands of people without homes.

Many Romanians live in cramped housing and only half have access to piped water. Much of Romania's housing stock is low-quality and deteriorating because of a lack of maintenance. A family of eight is more likely to live in a two-room flat than in a home with four rooms or more. More than 10,000 blocks of apartment flats erected before 1980 need serious renovation to their infrastructure, heating systems and roofs.


Habitat for Humanity in Romania
Habitat for Humanity Romania started in 1996, with Romania becoming Habitat for Humanity’s 50th country worldwide. Since then, HFH Romania has helped more than 1,000 families in need into simple, decent shelter, building new homes, renovating apartments and engaging in disaster recovery.

HFH Romania oversees seven affiliates: HFH Beius, Cluj, Craiova, Comanesti, Pitesti, Radauti and Cumpana. The affiliates are spread across the three historic provinces of the country, with the national offices in Beius and Bucharest.

In addition to its building programs, HFH Romania acts as a catalyst for improving housing conditions by offering Habitat’s support, expertise and experience to other groups and partners, among them USAID, CHF, UNICEF, Soros Foundation and ASCO Oradea. Also, the organization has taken leadership in tackling repairs, renovations and rehabilitation of old communist-era block apartments, disaster-response projects and testing of innovative construction techniques.


Global Village
Habitat for Humanity Romania has an active volunteer program involving local and international volunteers, students, churches, individuals and corporations. Companies such as Petrom, Vodafone, Isover, Consolis, Pfizer, Arcelor Mittal, Lafarge, BRD Societe Generale, Timken, Whirlpool, MoneyGram, ABN AMRO, Citi Bank, AVIVA and European Western Union are bringing their support to eradicating poverty housing in Romania. Large corporate events of building up to 10 houses in a week as well as individual one-house blitz builds are a feature of the program. Local students are also showing their commitment to improving the communities in which they live.

HFH Romania hosts up to 50 international teams of volunteers from many different countries all year long. Over 700 volunteers from the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Syria and Saudi Arabia travel to Romania every year to build simple, decent shelter.

Habitat Highlights
• In June 2008, 270 Vodafone volunteers participated in the “10 house in Just 6 days” project in Cluj.

• HFH Romania partners with a local Christian charity, Good Samaritan, to integrate into society orphans who have moved out of state orphanages. The youths serve a one- to two-year education/work program in which they help at Habitat construction sites, with Good Samaritan providing their salaries.

• Petrom, the largest oil and gas producer in southeastern Europe, contributed $1 million to Habitat’s response to flooding in September 2008. The project is targeting about 500 home rehabilitations.

• Former Romanian President Emil Constantinescu worked side by side with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter at the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project in the U.S. Gulf in 2008.

Local Habitat organizations in Romania