Bulgaria to develop new national housing strategy

Bulgaria will begin developing a new national housing strategy focused on social housing and informal settlements, Regional Development and Public Works Minister of Bulgaria Nikolai Naydenov announced on Wednesday.

He participated in a meeting in Bucharest, where experts from both countries shared experiences on regulating informal settlements. Naydenov said the strategy will prioritize issues in marginalized communities and will require additional efforts to improve living conditions, CE Report quotes BTA.

The plan will be based on extensive data and research, including socio-economic, statistical, territorial, and sociological factors.

Experts at the meeting noted that over the past decade, Romania has developed legal frameworks addressing informal settlements, with an estimated 72,000 people currently living in such areas—likely an underestimate. Romania has also adopted a National Housing Strategy until 2050, focusing on vulnerable groups and aiming to ensure affordable housing and social inclusion.

Romania’s housing and social inclusion programs for 2021–2027 have a total budget of €500 million, partly allocated to housing renovation, modernization, and settlement regulation. As a result of these efforts, the first informal settlement, Reșița, has already been formalized.

Naydenov noted that Bulgaria also faces significant challenges with illegal housing, with more than 200,000 such properties, mainly in neighborhoods with Roma communities.

The “Home Equals” project by Habitat for Humanity Bulgaria aims to improve living conditions in these areas by developing urban planning and basic infrastructure. The initiative is part of a global campaign to improve informal settlements and influence national housing policies toward sustainable solutions.

The meeting on sharing experiences regarding national housing strategies was organized by the Habitat Bulgaria Foundation.