The Regional Housing Programme (RHP) celebrated a landmark moment on 30 November, with the delivery of its 10 000^th home for most-vulnerable refugees and displaced persons in the Western Balkans region. The occasion was marked during a ceremony to deliver keys to 40 newly-built RHP apartments to refugee families in Vršac, Serbia. In total, the RHP aims to deliver 11 400 homes across the four Partner Countries of the RHP – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia – by mid-2023.

In addition to the beneficiaries themselves, the delivery of keys ceremony was attended by Nataša Stanisavljević, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia; Holger Schröder, Head of Unit, Western Balkans Regional Programmes and the Economic Investment Plan at DG NEAR and other national and international representatives.

On behalf of the European Union – the main Donor to the RHP – Mr. Holger Schröder congratulated the families on their new homes, and reflected on the importance of the RHP both for the region and the EU. ” The Regional Housing Programme symbolises EU solidarity towards vulnerable families who left their lives behind, “he said. 

The visit by RHP stakeholders to Vršac followed a meeting of the RHP Assembly of Donors that morning, and preceded a RHP Steering Committee meeting in Belgrade on 30 November, hosted by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, chaired by the European Union, and co-chaired by Switzerland, another key Donor to the Programme.