Strengthening the expertise of Romodrom o.p.s. employees in the field of housing counseling

The project was implemented from August to December 2023 with funding from the state budget, ref. Z17060200001.

The aim of the project was to enhance the professional qualification of 20 Romodrom o.p.s. employees through five full-day thematic training sessions, in order to improve the quality of housing counseling provided to individuals in socially disadvantaged situations living in socially excluded environments. The purpose of this counseling was to transition individuals living in socially excluded environments to standard forms of housing in regular settings.

As part of increasing their expertise, employees underwent training in 5 thematic areas, namely:

1. Community work in the context of housing - work with the Roma community, work with the homeless community, work with the neighborhood community, strengthening community ties
2. Housing care - work with the guarantee fund, how to motivate tenants to care for the apartment, ensuring necessary repairs, solving emergency situations, how to communicate defects with the owner, rental management, rent payment versus services, social benefits for housing
3. Prevention of housing loss - how to identify a threatened household, identification of threatening factors, budget work, work with rent debts, work with complaints, rights and obligations of landlords, what to do in case of breach of the lease agreement
4. Work on specific topics - focusing on domestic violence, loneliness - how to offer and ensure ideal care, how to support the client to not feel alone
5. Harm reduction, Recovery, and Well-being in housing - how to identify and strengthen the client/tenant's strengths, motivation for changing life path, support after relocation, psychosocial support or conducting motivational interviews

Courses were conducted using either an external or internal lecturer (especially in areas of specific know-how of the organization gained based on previous experience with the successful transition of individuals living in socially excluded environments to standard housing, including seamless fulfillment of contractual relationships and neighborly coexistence).