NGOs decry Chomutov's plan to relocate debtors

By Curtis M. Wong and Sarah Borufka

Staff Writers

Chomutov, North Bohemia

 Located in one of the country's most destitute areas, the city of Chomutov exudes an air of profound exhaustion. Crumbling tenements line each of the main thoroughfares, and suspicious-looking characters loiter outside seedy slot-machine bars and Asian takeout counters in the compact center.

With struggling local industries leaving more residents out of work, Chomutov City Hall hopes to revamp its image with a multifaceted proposal that took effect in February. Called "Záchranný kruh," or "Lifesaver," the plan aims to remove what Mayor Ivana Řápková has referred to as "people who are making a mess" - including prostitutes and welfare recipients failing to pay their rent - from downtown areas and surrounding residential districts.

"Our aim is to help decent citizens," Řápková said. "For the first time in the history of our city, all of the municipal departments are working together. … It's a complex system of measures that targets all of the unadaptable people in Chomutov."

Řápková's statistics are staggering. Chomutov City Hall records indicate that a total of 240 million Kč is owed to the municipality on back rent, as well as from subsequent fines, primarily from welfare recipients. The population of Chomutov currently hovers around 50,000, with an estimated 8,000 of those currently receiving state subsidies, approximately 80 percent of whom are reportedly of Roma descent.

Despite overwhelming praise from Interior Minister Ivan Langer and area residents (more than 100,000 visitors signed an online petition in support of the new legislation over an eight-day period), the proposal has largely backfired on a national level, drawing staunch criticism from local humanitarian groups as well as Human Rights and Minorities Minister Michael Kocáb. Among their many concerns is a new procedure that allows city officials to publicly seize allowances from welfare recipients, as well as a relocation plan, which transports rent defaulters from municipal-owned apartments to a block of makeshift "container houses" in Chomutov's outskirts that the city bought four years ago.

City officials say more than 60 eviction notices are to be delivered to rent defaulters within the next two weeks. The first residents are expected to move into the poorly insulated, boxlike structures shortly thereafter. Previously used as storage facilities, some of the homes currently lack proper heating and electrical equipment, and residents will have access only to communal restrooms and showers. Once there, residents will be charged 400 Kč ($18) per month plus utilities.

"Řápková's plan is completely demagogic," said Jarmila Kuchárová, a social worker at the Chomutov branch of Člověk v tísni (People in Need), a nongovernmental organization. "It simply isn't appropriate social politics to remove a resident from his or her home and send them to 'replacement' housing that's so inadequate."

Among those awaiting relocation is Helena Koňová, a single mother of three who currently lives in an interim tenement alongside the lot where the container homes are situated. "I just want to live like everyone else, in an apartment with warm water and central heating," said Koňová, whose husband is currently imprisoned. "I don't think that's too much to ask for as a mother with three children. These new flats are dirty and rundown."

Local humanitarian groups have drawn comparisons between Řápková's proposal and a similarly criticized operation by former Regional Development Minister Jiří Čunek. In 2006, Čunek, who was then mayor of Vsetín, east Moravia, moved several Roma families out of central neighborhoods to shoddy housing on town outskirts.

'Politically favorable'

Unlike Čunek, who reportedly suggested his plan was to "take the pus out of the wound," Řápková made no specific reference to Roma citizens when outlining her proposal, but, with the bulk of welfare recipients being of Roma descent, local humanitarians say they are certain it was implied.

"Of course, people should be obligated to pay their debts regardless of their race," said Jan Šipoš, another People in Need social worker. "Moving residents to these blocks is no different than creating another ghetto. … It's a way of collecting people of similar race and creating a stigma that will stay with them for the rest of their lives."

He went on to suggest City Hall's plan was largely politically motivated. "It's a politically favorable time for Řápková to bring [Roma issues] to the forefront, to hide the city's other pressing issues."

Řápková has refuted such claims, noting that many of the residents to be moved to the container homes caused domestic disturbances and had, in some cases, damaged other municipal-owned housing beyond repair.

"This is, of course, going to be really basic housing, and I wouldn't wish anyone to have to live there," Řápková said. "We are not concerned about skin color; we're concerned with whether people are paying their rent and if they are bothering other people in their surroundings. The same policies will be applied to normal working families who may have fallen into debt."

Šipoš said the city should take a more individual approach to tackling debtors that would include regular payment schedules, and said his organization had suggested implementing a citywide policy that would allow welfare recipients to work off debt via community service programs, which met with a muted response.

"As a social-service provider, I can tell you these people don't usually look at debt the same way as your average citizen does," he said. "I don't think all of the options have been explored. … These debts should have been settled earlier, instead of being allowed to accumulate and then publicly taking everything these people have."

- Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

The writers can be reached at news@praguepost.com