Habitat for Humanity Macedonia
Macedonia -- Habitat for Humanity Int'l 1
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Substandard housing is a reality for many families in Macedonia.
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Proud students of their finished work.
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Committed volunteers on site.
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Volunteers with homeowner family.
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This happy roma couple lives in their renovated home with their daughter, her husband and the three cute grandchildren.
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Happy homeowner family enjoying their new home.
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Housing Need
Located at the crossroads of important transport routes connecting Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYR Macedonia) has come a long way in its transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, with unemployment and poverty showing signs of declining. However, much remains to be done to create an environment where every family that needs a simple, decent place to live has one.
About 80,000 households lack long-term housing solutions in Macedonia, and about 70,000 units, or 12 percent of the stock, are substandard. Living conditions for the rural poor are especially bad and are related to a higher incidence of communicable disease, including tuberculosis and water-borne diseases. Access to potable water and sewerage is scarce in rural areas and in many urban slums. These conditions are particularly grave for households of the minority Roma.
About 320,000 people – about 15 percent of Macedonia's population – live in a total of 80,000 illegally-constructed buildings. The capital city of Skopje hosts squatter settlements of about 120,000 citizens.
Since average families cannot afford to buy new homes, many families live in their parents’ houses, making overcrowding a primary issue of poor living conditions. The average age of buildings in Macedonia is about 30 years and, due to poor maintenance, most are in need of immediate reconstruction/renovation.
Habitat for Humanity in Macedonia
When Habitat for Humanity Macedonia began in 2003, it was confronted with a massive national housing problem. From the outset, the new Habitat group identified a number of ways to improve aging housing stock, largely through innovative financing mechanisms.
Today, HFH Macedonia works mostly on projects focused on reconstruction/renovation of existing dwellings, targeting low-income families unable to improve their living conditions. By establishing a Home Improvement Fund with short-term loans at affordable interest rates, HFH Macedonia’s objective is to reach three times as many households as a traditional new-house construction program with the same amount of funds, yet still affirming the Habitat for Humanity principles of simple, decent and affordable housing. To achieve this objective, HFH Macedonia established a partnership with the microfinance organization Moznosti, an affiliate of the global organization Opportunity International.
During the first year of implementation in 2006, 69 loans were disbursed. At the end of 2007, 144 reconstructions had been completed, with 53 under way. Average loan size is about € 3,800, or US$5,700.
In 2007, HFH Macedonia and another microfinance institution, Horizonti, initiated a new pilot partnership aimed at improving housing conditions for the marginalized Roma community in Macedonia. The partnership included creation of a joint fund and a new credit line for reconstruction, renovations and repairs of dwellings in the municipality of Shuto Orizari on the outskirts of Skopje, an enclave predominantly populated by Roma.
The fund started with a loan pool of €60,000, or about $88,200. During the last half of 2008, 21 microloans were disbursed, with an average loan size of €1,347 ($1,980). The project hopes to expand its operations in 2009 to three more municipalities in Macedonia.
A new building program is starting in Veles (central Macedonia) in 2009, with the aim of supporting 90 families over three years.
Global Village
Habitat for Humanity Macedonia is the newest Global Village destination in Europe and Central Asia. The staff commitment and professionalism fueled the program’s growth from three teams in 2007 to eight in 2008. International school students and individuals from the U.S., Canada, Czech Republic and Germany have all rated their volunteer building trips in Macedonia very highly.
Habitat Highlights
• A new financing agreement valued at €1 million ($1.4 million) was signed with the Dutch International Guarantees for Housing (DIGH), which will allow for a significant scaling up of the initial projections for the Home Improvement Fund, the partnership of HFH Macedonia and Moznosti.
• Habitat for Humanity Macedonia’s Home Improvement Fund was selected among the three most innovative development projects worldwide by the Global Development Network, a World Bank-affiliated institution.
• Habitat for Humanity Macedonia’s pilot Water Supply and Sanitation Project, executed in partnership with the Public Enterprise “Turija” from the Municipality of Vasilevo, helped serve almost 100 families in less than two months by connecting their homes to potable running water and proper sanitation.
• In 2008, HFH Macedonia became fully involved in the Global Village program, with some GV teams already repeating visits.
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