Hungary: Evictions of Roma in Miskolc, including areas affected and whether notice is given to affected persons; information on recourse and resources available to evicted persons (2014-May 2015)

1. Evictions of Roma in Miskolc

In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an official at the Canadian Embassy in Budapest stated that, based on publicly available information, including local media as well as information obtained from the Miskolc Mayor's Office during a fact-finding mission to Miskolc by the Embassy in April 2015, Hungary started a "country-wide program" of slum elimination in 2012 (Canada 21 May 2015). The government of Hungary's National Reform Programme 2013 of Hungary indicates that in 2012 "the human service component of the complex programmes for segregated slums" was announced, and that

[a] housing strategy linked to the segregated settlements will be prepared in 2013, to set up the measures to be taken after 2014. To eliminate those housing facilities in disadvantaged Roma neighbourhoods which are hardly suitable for human accommodation - and, in certain cases, to rehabilitate them, taking the individual conditions into account - a comprehensive long-term strategy and a related action plan will be developed[.] (Hungary April 2013, 33)

Sources indicate that in May 2014, the city council of Miskolc approved a plan to start dismantling the city's "slums" for safety reasons (HM 7 Aug. 2014; The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a), and to further urban development (ibid.). According to sources, the Mayor of Miskolc stated that 35,000 signatures of Miskolc residents had been collected in support of the planned demolition (ibid.; HFP 6 Aug. 2014; AFP 10 Oct. 2014).

2. Persons and Areas Affected

According to sources, the area of the city that is being targeted by the planned demolition is the "numbered streets" [1] neighbourhood of Miskolc (ERRC 25 June 2014; AI 15 Jul. 2014; The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a). Sources note that this neighbourhood or area is comprised mainly of Roma inhabitants (ibid.; AI 15 July 2014; ERRC 25 June 2014). Similarly, the embassy official stated that the municipality of Miskolc's commitment to eliminate slum areas, areas which are regarded by the city as "segregated areas due to the high concentration of Roma" living there, will affect the "entirety of the Numbered Streets" area (Canada 21 May 2015).

Sources note that Miskolc is expanding the city's existing football stadium (ibid.; The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a), which neighbours the Numbered Streets area (ibid.). According to the embassy official, the stadium renovation directly impacts streets "Nine, Ten, and Eleven," which have "already been partly demolished" (Canada 21 May 2015). The mayor of Miskolc was quoted by the Budapest Times, a weekly English-language newspaper, as stating that

[w]e cannot expect more than 10,000 football fans to march through a slum each time they would like to get into the stadium. Of course we will provide the rightful inhabitants with other accommodation. ... [W]e decide separately on each family. (The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a)

Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

According to the embassy official, Miskolc has 13 slum areas, including the Numbered Streets (Canada 21 May 2015). According to a September 2014 article by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the city of Miskolc "plans to demolish more than a dozen" of the Roma-majority neighbourhoods (PBS 21 Sept. 2014). Similarly, Agence France-Presse(AFP) reported in an October 2014 article that the city voted to "demolish 13 areas inhabited predominantly by Miskolc's ... Roma ... community" (AFP 10 Oct. 2014).

In regard to the Numbered Streets area, sources vary in their account of the number of those being affected by the slum elimination plan:

A July 2014 report by Amnesty International (AI) states that in the Numbered Streets area "450 mainly Roma families have been asked to vacate their homes in July [2014]" and that a "further 450 [families have] yet to receive any information about their housing situation" (AI 15 July 2014).

According to an October 2014 article by the Budapest Times, the "city wants to demolish" the Numbered Streets slum area (The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a). The article states that the area is the "largest closed settlement" of Roma in Miskolc with 1,000 residents (ibid.). The embassy official similarly stated that media reports put the number of residents in the Numbered Streets at 1,000 (Canada 21 May 2015).

Without providing further detail on the affected area in question, AFP reported in October 2014 that as of August 2014, "only around a dozen homes have been razed" (AFP 10 Oct. 2014).

According to AI, as of December 2014, approximately "30 families had been evicted" from the Numbered Streets area (AI 10 Apr. 2015).

The Budapest Sentinel [2] posted a translation of an article originally published on "Hungarian daily online abcug.hu on March 16, 2015" by Akos Albert, which indicates that over the past year "more than thirty families vacated their homes in the [Numbered Streets area of Miskolc] where the construction of a football stadium is planned" (The Budapest Sentinel 17 Mar. 2015). The article further states, quoting Mihaly Dancs, "the local Roma Civil Rights Movement representative," that "[a]pproximately 150 families are still living in the Numbered Streets [area]" and that another 29 families are expected to receive "eviction orders within the next 6 months" (ibid.).

In April 2015, AI reported that "at least two families" had received notice to leave their homes by mid-April and that the most recent notices indicate a "resumption [of] evictions that were temporarily halted over the winter months" (AI 10 Apr. 2015).

According to the April 2015 article by AI, the city of Miskolc "plans to evict all its tenants from the 'Numbered Streets' neighborhood," and approximately "160 families, mainly Roma, are at risk of forced eviction" (ibid.).

3. Reasons Given for Eviction Notices

Sources indicate that the reasons given for the eviction notices include that residents have been late with their rent payments, or that their tenancy has expired (The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014b; The Budapest Beacon 5 Aug. 2015; AI 15 July 2014); these eviction notices were given to residents who do not have a "valid contract with the housing authority" (ibid.). The embassy official explained that "when a fixed-term lease contract expires and lease obligations have been breached ... it is common for the lease not to be renewed" (Canada 21 May 2015). According to the same source, the Mayor's Office explained that tenants have not met their lease obligations, such as "not paying their rent, not keeping the property in order, engaging in anti-community behavior such as accumulating garbage, [and] not paying debts to utility and service companies" (ibid.).

An article by Hungary Matters (HM), an English-language newsletter on Hungarian issues (HM n.d.), indicated that opposition parties and civil organizations protested the evictions, adding that

[t]he Democratic Coalition (DK) E-PM's local chapter and the Socialists said in a joint statement...that the tenants who were evicted denied that they were behind on their rent payments and held documents to prove that they had paid their debt. (HM 7 Aug. 2014)

Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

4. Length of Notice Given

Sources vary in their description of the length of notice given to those who have received eviction notices as follows:

According to the July 2014 report by AI, the "[l]etters from [Miskolc] seen by [AI] ... [over] the course of the last couple of weeks state that they must leave their homes by either 15 or 30 July [2014]" (AI 15 July 2014).

The March 2015 Budapest Sentinel article states that one couple who was interviewed explained that they had "received a letter in January saying that their rent contract had ... expired, and they have to leave their home by 23 February" (17 Mar. 2015).

According to the Budapest Beacon, housing authorities told reporters "that it had received the consent of Roma residents after sending out eviction notices," however, according to one "newly homeless woman from a demolished street" quoted in the article, she was not provided with an opportunity to give her consent (The Budapest Beacon 5 Aug. 2014).

5. Recourse and Resources Available

The embassy official explained that "different rules apply depending on whether properties are owned or leased, and whether the lease is in good-standing, or has expired or [been] breached"; 15-20 percent of homes in the Numbered Streets area are privately-owned properties and the rest are municipality-owned properties with a lease "regulated by a contract between the tenant and the municipality" (Canada 21 May 2015). The embassy official explained that in cases of privately-owned properties,"[t]he local government must offer to purchase properties owned by residents or provide them with an alternative comparable property" and that such offers are handled on an individual case basis (ibid.). The same source noted that where an agreement cannot be reached on such an offer, "[t]here is judicial recourse" available (ibid.).

The embassy official explained that for leased properties, disagreements regarding lease term violations and expired fixed-term lease contracts are regulated by No 78/1993 Act on Housing, and that should lease terms be breached, "the lessor can enforce the rights by law" and that "when a tenant challenges the validity of a term on the lease, this is handled by the judicial system" (ibid.). In the case of fixed-term leases that have not expired, the embassy official stated that "residents are being offered alternative properties in other locations" and that "[a]ccording to the Mayor's Office, the city is going beyond its legal obligations to accommodate affected residents ... [and is] working with the Maltese Charity Service ... to provide options to relocate residents" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

Other sources state that the city of Miskolc is offering compensation to those in the Numbered Streets area to terminate their lease contracts if they agree to move outside of the city limits and do not sell or remortgage their new property for five years (EERC 25 Jun. 2014; The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a; Czech Radio 23 May 2014). Sources note that the amount of compensation being offered is up to 2 million Hungarian forints [C$8,815] (ibid.; The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a).

AFP reported in October 2014 that only those with indefinite-term leases would be offered "money or flats elsewhere" (10 Oct. 2014). The Budapest Times also reported in October 2014 that "only those with a valid current contract receive compensation" (19 Oct. 2014). AI similarly noted in 2014 that only those that do not have any "housing debts" and "have a valid contract" would be eligible for compensation (AI [Aug. 2014]). According to an August 2014 article by the Hungarian Free Press, an online newspaper that focuses on Hungarian political news (HFP n.d.), citing a politician affiliated with the DK, "these pay-outs" were not included in the 2014 budget for the city of Miskolc (6 Aug. 2014).

According to the March 2015 article translated by the Budapest Sentinel, city council stated that only one family accepted compensation and that since then, the city "started to cancel housing contracts of those families with utility or rent arrears" and those whose leases had expired were not given the option to renew their lease (The Budapest Sentinel 17 Mar. 2015). The article further states that it was announced at the beginning of March that apartment regulations would be amended to allow former tenants of the "Numbered Streets" to apply for "council flats subject to certain conditions," one of which being that "they cannot have arrears on bills" (ibid.). Citing Bela Racz, a member of the Roma Civil Rights Movement, the article notes that as a result of these stipulations, "most of the families in need will not be eligible" (ibid.). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

Sources indicate that residents do not want to leave the area (The Budapest Sentinel 17 Mar. 2015; The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a). The Budapest Times reports that many of the families "have been living in Miskolc for generations," some have "financial difficulties" and that "most of them are working in the factories nearby" (ibid.). According to the Budapest Sentinel, residents do not want to leave because there are more jobs in Miskolc, "more public workers are hired" in the city, their children "are able to attend school" there, and "surrounding settlements would not welcome them," including many in Borsod county that have "already passed regulation[s] that would deny benefits to a majority of newcomers" (17 Mar. 2015). Other sources also indicate that nearby communities have signed petitions opposing the relocation of former Miskolc residents (PBS 21 Sept. 2014; AFP 10 Oct. 2014).

According to the Budapest Times, "neighbouring communities are not welcoming the Roma" (The Budapest Times 19 Oct. 2014a). The same source reports that the town of Felsozsolca "and five other communities" announced that they "'are not supporting the export of social problems and [they] will use every available lawful method in order to prevent it'" (ibid.). The article further reports that in Sátoraljaújhely, a town "at the Slovak border," a "new rule issued by the authorities" states that those "'who move to [the area] with the help of financial resources received from another community'" will be unable to receive social benefits within the first five years, or rent or buy apartments "in public ownership" or be able to participate in public work programs for three years (ibid.). An article by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), a "non-profit human rights watchdog NGO" (HCLU n.d.), similarly states that "in response to the modification of housing rules" in Miskolc, "Sátoraljaújhely ... has introduced ... regulations through a municipal order that the local government describes as 'self-defense'" against the migration of Miskolc residents to the area (ibid. 27 Oct. 2014).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Notes

[1] "Numbered streets" refers to streets that have been labelled with a number instead of a name (The Budapest Sentinel 17 Mar. 2015).

[2] The Budapest Sentinel is a Hungarian news website that seeks to make the work of "Hungarian journalists, commentators and community and business leaders accessible" to an English-language audience and is published by NewsLanc.com (The Budapest Sentinel n.d.). NewsLanc.com is a non-profit company based in the US (ibid.). NewsLanc.com also publishes the Budapest Beacon (NewsLanc.com 2 Jan. 2015). The Budapest Beacon is a news website that reports on events in Hungary (The Budapest Beacon n.d.).

References

Agence France-Presse (AFP). 10 October 2014. Peter Murphy. "Roma 'Slums' Face Demolition in Orban's Hungary." [Accessed 13 May 2015]

Amnesty International (AI). 10 April 2015. "Urgent Action: Roma Families at Risk of Forced Eviction." (EUR 27/1428/2015) [Accessed 14 May 2015]

_____. [August 2014]. Barbora Cernusakova and Aron Demeter. "'Numbered Streets': The Hungarian Neighbourhood Where Everybody Could Be Left Homeless." [Accessed 13 May 2015]

_____. 15 July 2014. "Hungary: Mayor of Miskolc Must Halt Evictions of Roma." (EUR 27/003/2014) [Accessed 12 May 2015]

The Budapest Beacon. 5 August 2015. Daniel Nolan. "Demolition of Miskolc Roma Ghetto Begins." [Accessed 13 May 2015]

_____. N.d. "About." [Accessed 21 May 2015]

The Budapest Sentinel. 17 March 2015. Csaba Toth. "Miskolc's Evicted Roma Make Their Way to Canada." [Accessed 14 May 2015]

_____. N.d. "About." [Accessed 19 May 2015]

The Budapest Times. 19 October 2014a. Jaakko Kacsoh. "Your Number is Up, Unless You're a Football Fan." [Accessed 13 May 2015]

_____. 19 October 2014b. "Miskolc Roma Seek Strength in Numbers." [Accessed 13 May 2015]

Canada. 21 May 2015. Embassy of Canada in Budapest. Correspondence from an official to the Research Directorate.

Czech Radio. 23 May 2014. "Hungary: Town Offers Impoverished Roma Money to Move Away." Translation by Gwendolyn Albert. [Accessed 13 May 2015]

European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). 25 June 2014. "Hungarian City Set to 'Expel' Its Roma." [Accessed 12 May 2015]

Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU). 27 October 2014. "We Do Not Want Roma Here!" [Accessed 19 May 2015]

_____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 19 May 2015]

Hungarian Free Press (HFP). 6 August 2014. "Miskolc Removes Roma Population." [Accessed 12 May 2015]

_____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 19 May 2015]

Hungary. April 2013. National Reform Programme 2013 of Hungary. [Accessed 22 May 2015]

Hungary Matters (HM). 7 August 2014. "Residents Evicted in Miskolc Slum Area." [Accessed 13 May 2015]

_____. N.d. "HM: Hungary Matters." [Accessed 19 May 2015]

NewsLanc.com. 2 January 2015. Richard Field. "Live Coverage of the 'Now Us' Protest in Budapest." [Accessed 21 May 2015]

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). 21 September 2014. Stephen Fee. "Fearing Eviction, Hungary's Roma Wonder 'Are We Next?'" [Accessed 12 May 2015]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Attempts to contact the following were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response: European Roma Rights Centre; Hungarian Civil Liberties Union; Roma Matrix.

Internet sites, including: Borsod Online; British Broadcasting Corporation; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; Council of Europe; ecoi.net; Factiva; Heinrich Boll Stiftung; Human Rights Watch; Hungarian Spectrum; Hungary Today; Minority Rights Group International; Miskolc.hu; Open Democracy; Roma Matrix; UN - Refworld.