Sociological survey „Housing needs and attitudes of families, living in poverty areas in the municipalities Sliven and Targovishte, Bulgaria”

In the period July, 20th – October, 20th 2020 Habitat for Humanity Bulgaria conducted a representative sociological survey „Housing needs and attitudes of families, living in poverty areas in the municipalities Sliven and Targovishte, Bulgaria”. A total of 800 households were interviewed, 310 of them in “Nadezhda” district of Sliven, 140 in the village of Topolchane, Sliven region, 150 in the „Malcho Malchev” district of Targovishte and 200 in the village of Golyamo Novo, Targovishte region.

This survey was part of the project “Research Based Arguments for New Housing Policies in Benefit of All”, which aims to contribute towards development of longterm, needs-driven minicipal and national housing policies, which will secure safe and adequate housing for the Roma population. Habitat Bulgaria implements this project with the financial support of Active Citizen Fund Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014 – 2021 г.

Associate professor Alexey Pamporov, sociologist at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) analyzed and summarized the results in an analytical report, covering three main thematic fields:

1. Living conditions (housing, infrastructure, domestic heating);
2. Housing ownership and attitudes towards housing legalization (ownership documents, legalization process, the idea for ideal new house, access to municipal housing);
3. Household income and attitudes to housing microfinance.

The lack of adequate sanitary conditions is a prerequisite for poor hygiene, increased health and epidemics risk and has negative impact on different aspects of residents’ social and economic status. Based on that study, recommendations will be made for improvеment of housing policies and legislation at local and national level.

The full sociological study in Bulgarian you can find here: Housing needs and attitudes of families, living in poverty areas in the municipalities Sliven and Targovishte, Bulgaria

A short summary of the sociological study in English you can find here: Housing needs and attitudes of families, living in poverty areas in the municipalities Sliven and Targovishte, Bulgaria

More about the organization:

Since 2010 Habitat Bulgaria works successfully in the municipality of Targovishte in partnership with “Club of NGO”. Thanks to the collaboration of the two organizations over a ten year period more than 1,100 low-income families received interest-free housing microfinance support for the total amount of 498,000 BGN.

From 2016 on, Habitat Bulgaria works successfully in the municipality of Sliven in the frame of the initiative for home improvement microfinance support to low-income families. Over a period of 4 years the organization has supported 560 families form the “Nadezhda” district with interest-free loans for the total amount of 111, 000 BGN.

The project „Research Based Arguments for New Housing Policies in Benefit of All” is implemented with financial support of 93,000 Euro, secured by Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway within the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The main goal of the project is to contribute to the development of long-term, needs-driven municipal and national housing policies, which will secure safe and adequate housing for Roma.

This publication has been produced with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund of Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The entire responsibility for the content of the document lies with the Habitat for Humanity Bulgaria Foundation and under no circumstances can it be assumed that this document reflects the official opinion of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria Operator.