The programme is aimed at securing permanent housing for 74,000 of the most vulnerable displaced persons in those countries and represents one of the key results of regional cooperation following war conflicts in the nineties in the region of the former Yugoslavia, when around two million people were expelled from their homes.
Part of the funding required to implement the programme was collected at a donor conference held in Sarajevo in April 2012 when EUR 264 million was raised. Most of the funds for the programme which was launched in January 2013 were donated by the European Union and the USA.
This is a huge turnabout in resolving this housing problem and facilitates returns to pre-war homes or integration in a new community, Croatia's regional coordinator and assistant regional development and EU funds minister Stanko Janic told a press conference.
The programme foresees that Croatia will accommodate 3,500 families, many of whom are returnees, he said.
He added that the programme was first launched two years ago and in that period 690 families were housed at a cost of EUR 20 million. We still have EUR 98 million earmarked for this purpose, he added.
He said that the deadline for applications for this programme will be announced in two weeks' time.
The process of choosing beneficiaries and implementing the programme in participating countries will be monitored by UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The first information campaign in all four countries in the region will be conducted during March and April under the auspices of the European Union, the UNHCR and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata.