Practice Details

SITUATION PRIOR TO THE INITIATIVE

In the city of Valladolid,there were several substandard housing situations: Temporary settlements,shanty town areas and the "Poblado de la Esperanza".
The local Administration was worried about this situation, while the Regional-government was in charge of housing policy. The Central Administration supported these policies and developed the Plan for Gypsy Development, as thisminority ethnic group is the one most affected by this situation.
Each sector's actions were not co-ordinated. In 19989 the Collaboration Framework Agreement was signed by the Junta de Castilla y León and the CityCouncil of Valladolid, with the objective of relocating the indigent population.
The programme centres of the city of Valladolidand, specifically, in the shanty town areas and provisional settlements of thecity. The family units that live in this substandard housing have levels of extreme poverty, which is understood to be a process of multidimensional social exclusion.
Therefore, the topics which must be addressed lie in two main areas: On the one hand, the relocation of population into normalised city housing; and on the other, social action for the preparation and integration of the families within their neighbourhood and acquisition of normalised life styles, as well aspreparation for job market entry.

PREPARING INFORMATION AND CLARIFYING PRIORITIES
At the commencement of the programme for relocating the indigent population,two priorities were established:
a.- Relocation of the inhabitants of the "Poblado de la Esperanza"area, through housing purchase funds, to normalised city housing.

b.- Relocation of inhabitants of shanty town areas or those living insubstandard housing, through rental contracts for normalised housing.

The inhabitants involved participated from the first thought gypsy andneighbourhood associations such as "Asociación Secretariiado Gitano deValladolid", "La unión de Pajarillos"
A Mixed commission for follow-up on the Relocation Framework Agreement formedby the City Council of Valladolid and the Junta de Castilla y León. Inaddition, a Transfer Follow-up Commission was created, formed by the City Council,the Junta, the Province Council, The neighbourhood association "La Uniónde Pajarillos" the "Asociación Secretariado Gitano deValladolid" the savings and loan "Caja España de Inversiones"the youth group "Aleste"... This commission is responsible fordiscussing and reaching a consensus on the priorities to be established.

SETTING OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES AND RESOURCE MOBILISATION
The objectives of the programme for the indigent relocation are the following:

1. Relocate the family units living in provisional settlements, shanty townareas or ghettos in the city to normalised housing, following criteria ofgeographic dispersion and matching of family needs to types of relocationhousing avaliable.
2. Sensitise the inhabitants of the receptor neighbourhoods in order to createpositive attitudes towards the transfer.
3. Facilitate the social and labour integration of the relocated famiilies.
4. Carry out sensitisation and general consciousness-raising activities withthe citizens of Valladolid,in order to reduce existing prejudices towards the relocation of indigents.
The activities which have been carried out are:
* Acquisition of housing in the secondary market for relocation of the familieson the general relocation census under rental contract.
* Funding for the owner of dwellings in the "Poblado de la Esperanza"for the acquisition of normalised housing
* Social action programme with the indigent gypsy population in "Pobladode la Esperanza"
* Follow-up programme of the relocated-families.
* Programme to combat economic and social exclusion in the Social Action Zone"Este"

The process for choosing activities has been one of consensus; followingproposals by the City Council of Valladolid, all the social forces implicatedhave been contacted: institutions, political groups, neighbourhoodassociations....
Political support is mobilised through the Mixed Relocation Commission,although the consensus at the internal level of the Local corporation withregard to the importance, priority and methodology of the programme has beennoteworthy.
The leadership in formulation of objectives, as well as in the implementationof the proposals, is assumed by the City Council of Valladolid, based on anancillary criterion, as it is the Administration which is closest to thecitizens and which is carrying out consensual activities with the social forcesinvolved.
PROCESS
The first problem which arises in the implementation of the programme is thesocial rejection of the city population against the positive discriminationwhich will take place with a sector of the population. This is especiallystrong against the ethnic minorities living in the "Poblado de laEsperanza" or those living in "Camino de obregón". Attempts aremade to solve this problem through dialogue with the social forces and with theneighbourhood associations in the areas involved.
On the other hand, it is necessary to close the general relocation census. Todo so, the individual situations of the families in the provisionalsettlements, shanty town areas and specific substandard housing situations arestudied.
With respect to the "Poblado de la Esperanza" it can be indicatedthat this consists of 110 dwellings inhabited by gypsies who previously hadbeen in a shantytown situation. These dwellings were built as interim housingprior to the fails' later integration into the city. Given that there is nolegal document which testifies as to the situation of the families insofar asthe dwellings the occupy, a funding plan for the owner of these dwellings hasbeen set up to allow them to purchase other normalised housing in the city.
Significant problems which still continue are that a small number ofinhabitants of the "Poblado de la Esperanza" cause difficulties forleaving their ghetto situation, and that in some cases social integration oftransferred families is very difficult to accomplish.
The current situations in the city maintain their relocation census open. Thisis due to the facts that there is insufficient credit to solve all thesituations, and a lack of adequate housing to relocate this population, giventhat they prefer individual dwellings or ground-floor flats, which are more inline with their socio-culutral characteristics. Such dwellings are infrequentlyon the market and those available are very expensive. In addition, there is theproblem of rejection by the current owners of such properties, who resist theidea of selling them for relocation of theses families.

RESULTS
The previously described objectives have not been reached completely. The mostsignificant results to date are 117 families relocated to an equal number ofdwellings. Of these, 58 dwellings of general relocation and 59 dwellings boughtby owners of housings in the "Poblado de la Esperanza" . Inaddiction, the provisional settlement of the Portuguese in the "Camino deObregón" has been eliminated and an interim campground has been set upfor 16 Portuguese families that were not within the general relocation census.
There are still 51 families in the "Poblado de la Esperanza" to berelocated, and the general relocation census has openings available.
The relocation results are considered quantitatively; however, the socialprogrammes which complement it possess qualitative indicator, taking intoconsideration that they involve variables such as economic and socialsituation, possibilities for work, participation in collective property andsocial networks.
The indicator to measure the impact are the number of families relocated, thedegree of environmental integration of the transferred families and the numberof community conflicts which have arisen.
The impact obtained by this programme is re-elected in the consensus obtainedamong the political and social forces, although it is true that there stillexist segments of rejection in a few specific neighbourhood associations andthe housing owners who refuses to sell their dwellings for the implementationof the programme . Thus, the local and regional policies have been influencedby the programme for the point of view of consensus.
The opportunities for change which are under study at present involve revisingthe legal instruments utilised in the general programme, as private rentalcontracts are used, and it seems appropriate to turn to public housing aid. Inaddition , the programme can be improved by ensuring funding and humanresources designated for the programme.
The resources allocated have been significant, both financial and well ashuman, in that it has been possible to arrange funding from variousinstitutions.
This programme has improved the urban image of Valladolid, eliminating indigent settlements,although there has been an increasing in real estate speculation, an aspect which has an unfavourable impact on the population in general.
MAINTENANCE
As a fundamental aspect of maintenance, special reference must be made toper durability. The programme was set up in 1989 and has prospects for the future, given that the situations which it focuses on have not been eradicated totally. In addition, it is possible to reorient the proramme towards newaspects such as relocation due to expropriation of the reorient the programmed new aspects such as relocation due to expropriation of the indigentpopulation's dwelling sites for infrastructure construction (roadways, etc.) TheCity Council has a substantial amount allocated for this programme from its own funds, above all for the relocation programme itself, as the complementary programmes of a more social character areas supported by external funding.
It should be pointed out that the political consensus archived makes the-process initiated sustainable, as demonstrated by the fact that this programme has been considered a matter of priority throughout the different legislatures and political changes of the past ten years.
Finally, the new orientations under study should be mentioned. It is important to  note that, in specific situations, housing should be considered as social aid.
With respect to personal resources, the relocation programme team consist of aco-ordinator, social workers, a construction foreman, a lawyer, a fairly educator and a gypsy mediator, complemented by other social programmers with civic educators, workshop monitors, family councilors, labour advisors,...

LESSONS LEARNED

The lessons learned in this programme can be summarized as follows:
a.- Social policies in the area of housing must be adopted to the specific characteristics of the collectives toward whom they are aimed..
b.- Consensus must be reached among all social agents in these programmes. In addition, if possible, direct involvement of those affected, through mediatorsand associations, can yield very positive results.
c.- The process of indigent population relocation must be gradual, and as not to generate significant disruption in the city.