Strengthening the Role of Local Governments and

the Third Sector in Housing Bulgaria 2

2004-2005

FLGR initiated the second phase of Strengthening the Role of Local Governments and the Third Sector in Housing Bulgaria Project, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and administered jointly with the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (HIS) Rotterdam and PRC Bouwcentrum International. The project will be implemented in two pilot districts of Sofia Municipality Mladost and Triaditsa.

Main goals:

• Strengthening the role and the capacity of local governments and the third sector in Bulgaria in regard to creation and application of strategies and policies in the field of housing stock management and maintenance;
• Developing housing policy plans in the two pilot districts Mladost and Triaditsa with the support of Dutch and Bulgarian experts.

Within the project implementation period a practical training of municipal specialists and experts will be held. The participants will get acquainted with key problems, caused for property mismanagement and overall housing stock management and maintenance. Practical decisions and actions will be popularized, which will bring to the development of institutional and organizational mechanism for stimulation of owners associations development in the targeted areas.

The training programme is divided in five modules, each of them focused on different aspects of housing stock management. The first module will provide introduction in the international best practices of housing stock management and will present the political aspects of the situation in Bulgaria. The following modules will focus on technical, financial, legislative and social aspects of housing stock management. Each module will refer to the respective institutional base in Bulgaria.

The project will end up with a national conference and dissemination of the results and best practices, discussed within the seminars.