Accessible Housing Program

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Accessible Housing Program Darzybor
Settlement(suburban area of Poznan)
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HOUSING SITUATION IN POLAND
Background The housing situation in Poland is
especially critical, because the country moved
overnight from a state-controlled economy with an
all-embracing social safety net to a democracy
with a market-oriented economy. Officially,
Poland counts 300,000 homeless. However,
estimates reach up to three times that number.
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HOUSING SITUATION IN POLAND
Barka has been engaged in the renovation of
abandoned and neglected houses since its
beginning in 1989. The Foundation provides
social, legal, administrative and executive
support. The houses acquired by Barka are
mostly in raw conditions, typically lack floors,
sewerage, electric installations, and have
leaking roofs. The self-help groups formed by
Barka largely renovate the houses themselves.
Once they have a home, they take up one of
several income- generating activities proposed by
Barka. In total, Barka has established 30
centers with self-help groups covering 750
people throughout Poland. Once the initial
investments have been covered, these centers
operate self- sufficiently. The beneficiaries
work on ecological farming or in vocational
workshops to cover their living costs.
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PREVIOUS BARKAS HOUSING PROJECTS
Among Barkas projects are the following In
Chudopczyce (a rural community close to Poznan),
two buildings bought in raw conditions were
renovated, providing a home for 60 persons and
hotel accommodation for people who come to learn
and volunteer at the Barka Centre. A historically
significant manor, renovated according to the
norms of the Polish heritage, serves as a
popular university. Barka is piloting a
settlement in Chudopczyce using clay bricks and
straw for the construction, in an attempt to use
the cheapest building technologies available with
local resources. The basic idea is to use local
materials and labor to the maximum extent to
produce low-cost, environmentally-friendly homes.
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BARKA-KOFOED SCHOOL Centre of Social
Integration
On September 1st, 2004 Barka inaugurated the
first of five buildings, which are scheduled to
open in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The opening of this
new building initiates the life long learning
process in Poland and, as the first Centre of
Social Integration, creates a model for other
Centres. The Barka-Kofoed School prepares people
with low qualifications to work in social
cooperatives, social enterprises and as
employees in the free market. The new building
was constructed thanks to generous contributions
from the Grete Mikaelsens Foundation for Private
Danish Assistance to Homeless Families in Poland.
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The fourth program of the Barka Foundation
accessible housing program
We had been preparing ourselves for the
implementation of this program for years,
renovating and adapting ruined houses for
shelters for the homeless and building premises
for economic activities to support their
education and professional activation.

Tomasz i Barbara Sadowscy
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Creators of the accessible housing program and
the DARZYBOR Settlement
Tomasz Sadowski Creator of the Barka Foundation,
after many years of building the model of social
support is presently engaged in works of the
Commission of the Ministry of Labour and Social
Policy and the Polish Premier in the process of
building the National Strategy of Social
Integration. He holds the function of Chairman
of the National Confederation for Social
Employment and is member of many international
associations. Barbara Sadowska Works for the
development of socio-educational Centres in
Poland and is responsible for the international
cooperation and dissemination of Barkas
programs to other Central and Eastern European
countries.
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Creators of the accessible housing program and
the DARZYBOR Settlement
In 2001 the Poznan City Council determined 5 ha
of land for the Darzybor Settlement and in 2002
local authorities granted to the Barka Foundation
the grounds for the contruction of social
housing. The activities were speeding up teams
of architects and specialists were created with
people who engaged socially in the elaboration of
projects a campaing was started in Poland and
abroad to gather funds for construction. This was
also a time of intense Barkas engagement on
behalf of the new law on financial support and
construction of social houses, which was
introduced into force in 2004.
Creators of the Darzybor Settlement plans
Architects Hanna Kulczak-Misiak Magda
Maselkowska
Director of Barkas accessible housing
program Jaroslaw Poludnikiewicz
volunteering
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
Objective The main objective of this project is
the development of the idea of cooperation of
non-governmental organizations, local
authorities, beneficiaries and volunteers to
create a model for other projects of accessible
housing. In Poland, accessible housing program is
undertaken by a non-governmental organization for
the first time. Normally, Polish NGOs still
concentrate on providing occasional social
support such as shelter, meals, clothing but do
not offer an all-embracing sustainable solution.
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
After many discussions and changes of projects
and technologies the final conception of the
Darzybor Settlement was created. Its first stage
is composed by 32 dwellings placed by four in the
shape of the letter L.
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
Plan of the house
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
The building system is composed by elements made
of bricks and light wooden technology. This
system enables to produce many elements in
Barkas workshops. The persons interested
participate in the program of education and
entrepreneurship, which includes works on the
settlement with supervision of specialists.
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
The settlement offers place to live, work, and
learn, integrates with the environment and gives
possibilities for recreational and sport
activities. The plan includes meeting places,
creation of small entrepreneurship, service
providers, trade, kindergatens and places for
sport and recreation.
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
Localization The settlement is localized in
Poznan. The local administration determined 5 ha
of land for the program of accessible housing.
The Darzybor settlement will offer houses for
about 400-500 persons (100 families). Its
implementation will be achieved in three stages
in a 5-year period. During the first stage 32
dwellings will be constructed on 0.6 ha of
grounds. The first families will move to the new
houses before Christmas 2005.
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT

• The target groups of the project are
• Evicted families
• Families and persons with very low wages
• Orphans
• Persons who had lived in work hotels, which
  were liquidated
• Persons and families after the process of
  resocialization
• Refugees and other at-risk persons

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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
Beneficiaries contribution The project is
made with active participation of socially
excluded people in all its stages, both at the
level of planning and building works. From one
side this participation has educational and
rehabilitation character and, from the other
side, reduces the building costs. The
qualifications achieved will enable the
inhabitants of the settlement to care for their
houses, make the necessary repairs and maintain
them. In some cases the qualifications achieved
will give possibility for the participants to
earn the living or obtain additional income.
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
Sustainability of the project The
sustainability of the project will be achieved by
the possibility of income generation and the new
law on financial support to social housing,
shelters and houses for the homeless for the
period 2004-2005. The Barka-Darzybor
Association for Accessible Housing, which was
created to strengthen Barka Foundations
activities in this area, plays a key role in
lobbying on behalf of new forms of housing and
cooperation.
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DARZYBOR SETTLEMENT
Shaping the new social policy in Poland The
main objective of the Darzybor Settlement project
is to work out a model of cooperation based on
public, social and private partnership. This
model shall contribute to the development of
social housing in a larger scale throughout
Poland. The Barka-Darzybor Association for
Accessible Housing builds on Barkas achievements
and especially on Barkas fourth program of
support to the poorest, which is the accessible
housing, to offer new solutions, because in
Poland and in the world the number of people for
whom accessible housing is not real is growing
and social exclusion is becoming a problem for
whole societies.
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Barka-Darzybor Association for Accessible
Housing

• Associations statutory objectives
• Social and professional reintegration of socially
  excluded people aiming at their return to the
  society and to offer them adequate housing
  conditions
• Participation of people experienced by poverty in
  programs of communities creation,
  socio-educational programs, programs of social
  employment and accessible housing program
• Cooperation with diverse institutions of social
  support in Poland and abroad, the public
  administration, representatives of the business
  area and religious institutions in programs of
  social and vocational reintegration of socially
  excluded groups
• Activities for the development of citizens
  society.

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The housing policy in Poland - background
public authorities carry on a policy to improve
the fulfillment of citizens housing needs,
especially as refers to overcoming homelessness
and provide support to citizens activities aimed
at achievement of own housing art. 75 of
the Constitution of the Republic of Poland
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The housing policy in Poland - background

• 1989 beginning of the transformation times in
  Poland
• 14.05.1990 Ministers Council meeting during
  the meeting the determinations
• for the place and the future
  development of housing in Poland were
• accepted
• Spring 1991 Conference in the Polish Parliament
  to make the development of
• housing a concrete
  possibility in the new situation of system
• transformation and in the
  conditions of a social market economy
• 06.07.1995 The document Principles of State
  housing policy was accepted by
• the Polish Parliament
• 26.10.1995 Acceptance by the Polish Parliament
  of the law on some forms of
• support to housing

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The housing policy in Poland

• Present law regarding housing
• 26.10.1995 - acceptance by the Polish Parliament
  of the
• law on some forms of
  support to housing
• 29.04.2004 - acceptance by the Polish Parliament
  of the
• law on financial support
  for creation of social
• housing, shelters and
  dwellings for the
• homeless

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URZAD MIASTA POZNANIA

URZAD MIASTA POZNANIA
"Osiedle DARZYBÓR"
"Osiedle DARZYBÓR"
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PROGRAM OF INTENSE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
This program will function on 20 ha of land of
the Darzyborska-Borowka region and will cooperate
with the following institutions and companies
localized in this area
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PROGRAM OF INTENSE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

• Industries, commercial companies and service
  providers
• Housing cooperative (block of flats for about
  60 families)
• School of foreign languages
• School of Social Workers
• Barkas shelter for families (about 100
  persons) and readapted dwellings
• for 5 families
• Hostel of the organization Monar-Markot
  (about 100 persons)
• Barkas Social Cooperatives (second-hand
  shops, renovation of furniture
• and housing appliances, sewing, services,
  etc.)
• Social Emergency Association
• Centre of Social Economy (in implementation
  stage)

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WE WARMLY INVITE YOU TO VISIT OUR
WEBSITE www.barka.org.pl