In January 2021, 34 families received keys to their newly constructed apartments worth close to €900,000 in the city of Tuzla of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The apartments were built with support of the Regional Housing Programme.

Most of the beneficiary families, who recently moved into their new apartments, had been forced to leave their homes in the city of Zvornik in the Eastern region of BiH during the war. Zejta Hamzabegovic is one of the beneficiaries.  She had to move between several homes in Tuzla over the last 18 years and had recently struggled to pay rent from her monthly pension. Marvelling at her sudden good fortune, she laughed: “When I was told to come and collect the keys, it felt like I had been reborn. I can’t believe that this is my new life.”

The European Union is the main donor to the Regional Housing Programme (RHP) with €235 million. The RHP aims to provide approximately 11,800 homes to most-vulnerable refugee and displaced families across the Western Balkans. The total amount allocated for BiH by the European Union is €64 million. Within RHP, so far, 1,300 housing units have been delivered to the beneficiary families in BiH. The remaining 700 housing units are expected to be delivered by June 2022.

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