Health impact assessment of Roma housing policies in Central and Eastern Europe: A comparative analysis
- Faculty of Public Health, Medical and Health Science Centre, University of Debrecen, PO Box 2, H-4012 Debrecen (Hungary)
- National Center of Public Health Protection, 15, Ivan Ev. Geshov blvd, 1431 Sofia (Bulgaria)
- Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Care and Social Work, Trnava University, 1 Univerzitne namestie, 917 00 Trnava (Slovakia)
- Ministry of Health, 5 Sveta Nedelya Square, 1000 Sofia (Bulgaria)
- State Environmental Health Center, Kalvariju str. 153, 08221 Vilnius (Lithuania)
- Unit for Health Promotion Research, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9, 6700 Esbjerg (Denmark)
Marginalised Roma communities in European countries live in substandard housing conditions the improvement of which has been one of the major issues of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, the ongoing intergovernmental European Roma programme. The paper presents EU-funded health impact assessments of national Roma housing policies and programmes in 3 Central and Eastern European countries in light of the evaluation of a completed local project in a fourth CEE country so as to compare predicted effects to observed ones. Housing was predicted to have beneficial health effects by improving indoor and outdoor conditions, access to services, and socioeconomic conditions. Negative impacts were predicted only in terms of maintenance expenses and housing tenure. However, observed impacts of the completed local project did not fully support predictions especially in terms of social networks, satisfaction with housing and neighbourhood, and inhabitant safety. In order to improve the predictive value of HIA, more evidence should be produced by the careful evaluation of locally implemented housing projects. In addition, current evidence is in favour of planning Roma housing projects at the local rather than at the national level in alignment with the principle of subsidiarity. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Predictive validity of HIA of national Roma housing policies - in light of current evidence - is low. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Implemented housing projects should be comprehensively evaluated to improve reliability of HIA. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Roma housing projects should be planned at the local rather than at the national level. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer HIA should be used to plan Roma housing projects at the local level.
- OSTI ID:
- 22058844
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Vol. 33, Issue 1; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0195-9255
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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