Regional Housing Programme (RHP) Fund to receive € 79 million from the European Commission

PARIS - Mr Joost Korte, Acting Director-General for Enlargement at the European Commission, and Mr Rolf Wenzel, Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), today signed a € 79 million Contribution Agreement in favour of the RHP.

This is the second Contribution Agreement signed by the European Commission to the RHP Fund (*). The first one, amounting to € 5 million, was signed in December 2012. These funds, together with other Donor contributions, will bring the total amount committed to the RHP Fund to € 114 million, of which € 26 million have already been paid in.

The Partner Countries are currently preparing their housing projects, the implementation of which will begin in spring 2014.

(*) During a Donors’ Conference held in April 2012 in Sarajevo, the European Commission pledged € 230 million in favour of the RHP, out of a total of € 261 million pledged.

The Regional Housing Programme (RHP) is backed by the European Commission, the United States of America, the UNHCR, the OSCE as well as the CEB which manages the RHP Fund and the Housing Programme itself. The RHP aims at offering housing solutions to about 27 000 households or 74 000 refugees and displaced persons that are considered as most vulnerable, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia (the Partner Countries). The total investment cost of the Programme, over an estimated five-year period, should amount to € 584 million.

For more information:
Website of the Regional Housing Programme
www.regionalhousingprogramme.org 

CEB Contact:
Secretariat of the Regional Housing Programme (ceb-rhp[at]coebank.org).