Special Rapporteur Miloon Kothari conducted a mission to Romania from January 14 to 19, 2002. Romania was, at that time, a country under transition to a market economy and was devoted to creating a functional market for the housing sector. Practically all housing had been privatized, but many of the houses were in poor condition and the dwellers faced high utility costs, especially for heat. With the increase of poverty since 1990, precarious living conditions started to affect larger numbers of the population, especially women and children.
The Rapporteur re-stated the central role of the State in setting up proper housing policies and an adequate legal framework to ensure the right to housing for Romanians.
The Rapporteur celebrated the June 2002 adoption of a national anti-poverty plan and suggested the creation of a mechanism to monitor compliance with the right to adequate housing. The Rapporteur recommended that the government should pay increased attention to security of tenure, to the legalization of informal settlements , and particularly, to the prevention of forced evictions.
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