4. Recognises that, in times of demographic change and other processes affecting the EU as a whole, the Roma population, which has been part of our common heritage for centuries and is the largest ethnic minority in the EU, should be given incentives through good quality education, decent housing and job opportunities to fully integrate into the work place and contribute to smart, sustainable and inclusive economic development as foreseen in the EU 2020 strategy, in particular in the ‘European Platform against Poverty’ initiative; takes the view that social inclusion is a precondition for achieving the EU 2020 strategy objectives; calls on the Member States and the local and regional public authorities, therefore, to increase their effort ...[+++]s now, by reinforcing their effective strategies for addressing the specific circumstances (deep poverty, lack of education and access to social services, poor health conditions, lack of civil registration documents, segregated and substandard housing, low level of employment) of marginalised communities, as an imperative in order to combat social exclusion of the Roma population and contribute to further integration within Member States; emphasises that a successful policy is a mixture of approaches taking social, economic and cultural factors into account;

36. Calls – in the interest of ensuring that funds with precisely-stated and specified objectives effectively reach the Roma in need and bring about long-lasting advances in their lives – for real commitment on the part of the Commission and the Member States to launching more target- and development-oriented, complex, flexible and sustainable programmes with a longer time coverage and greater territorial relevance, focusing on the most disadvantaged micro-regions in their geographical, socio-economic and cultural context, while also addressing the problem of suburban and rural poverty and segregated Roma neighbourhoods, and placing special emphasis on improving substandard housing ...[+++] (lacking, for example, drinking water, heating, electricity and sanitation) and on providing further assistance to families to maintain their improved housing situation; also calls on the Commission to monitor the outcomes of the projects after their funding has run out;

36. Calls – in the interest of ensuring that funds with precisely-stated and specified objectives effectively reach the Roma in need and bring about long-lasting advances in their lives – for real commitment on the part of the Commission and the Member States to launching more target- and development-oriented, complex, flexible and sustainable programmes with a longer time coverage and greater territorial relevance, focusing on the most disadvantaged micro-regions in their geographical, socio-economic and cultural context, while also addressing the problem of suburban and rural poverty and segregated Roma neighbourhoods, and placing special emphasis on improving substandard housing ...[+++] (lacking, for example, drinking water, heating, electricity and sanitation) and on providing further assistance to families to maintain their improved housing situation; also calls on the Commission to monitor the outcomes of the projects after their funding has run out;

In your introduction, you state that: " substandard housing contributes to substandard health," and " housing is an important component of preventing and protecting public health" .

We gathered opinions of people on the streets who are making a difference, activists, local politicians, volunteers, people seeking refuge from the streets, people living in shelters, rooming houses or substandard housing on reserves.

Will the government admit that its withdrawal from social housing has pushed far too many families into poverty, into debt and into substandard housing?