Boldesti Scaeni

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Boldesti-Scaeni is a small town from Prahova County located nearby Ploiesti Municipality, the capital city of the county, in central Romania. It is composed of 3 neighborhoods: Boldesti, Scaeni, Balaca and Seciu.
Roma unofficially represent 10% of the population.

There are 4 Roma marginalized communities in Boldești Scăeni, with poor population, low educational level, low access to employment, infrastructure and precarious living conditions:
* Str. Poienilor and Calea Unirii, in the Northern part of the municipality (357 persons, from which 328 of Roma ethnicity, 71 households – most of them from bricks), built after the earthquake in 1977 that destroyed their houses. In time, the children of these initial families built their own houses in the vicinity. 90% of the land is leased from the City Hall, 3% with property documents, the other without any legal documentation. Most of the houses are deteriorated and would need consolidations. Only 25% of the households have running water from public system, none are connected to the sewage system. 23% have bathroom, while all of them have electricity. There is public lighting in the community and people have access to garbage removal services. The distance from this community to: city hall - 3 km; school – 4 km; dispensary – 2 km. The road to the community is asphalted in 50%. Most of the women are housewives, people are living from seasonal activities: selling forest fruits and mushrooms, daily labour, social benefits. The main problems they are faced with are related to waste management, wild dogs and free-range animals.
In the last 5 years, the City Hall has granted plots of land for those who already had homes as well as for those who requested to build a home. It also supported the construction of some of the houses based on specific social criteria. In the last 3 years, the water distribution network has been expanded and connections have been made for each house. The public lighting network was also expanded. The intra-village limit for housing construction has been extended. Local authorities in collaboration with a waste management company have placed containers for the storage of household waste in the area and granted land for the construction of houses by the Roma population.
* Str. Livezilor, Str. Salcâmilor, in the Northern part of the municipality – 366 people live here, from which 244 Roma ethnics. 2 km to city hall and school, 1 km to dispensary, 0,5 km to the nearest food store. The road to the community is asphalted in 50%. There are 73 households made from adobe and people own them, only 19 do not have property documents. People are living from social benefits (64 medium guaranteed income, 33 – state allocation for families, 19 heating aids) and salaries. Part of the houses are deteriorated and would need consolidations. 42% of them are overcrowded, 26% do not have property documents. 46 are connected to the public water system, 45 to the sewage one and 73 to the electricity network. 39 have bathrooms inside the house. There is public lightning and inhabitants have access to garbage removal services. The area is floodable. The Local Police got involved in rounding up dogs without a master, in contravening the owners of animals left unattended on the public domain. Emphasis is placed on concluding contracts with the sanitation operator. 38% of the Roma people here have finished gymnasia school, 2% have a type of disability / medical condition, 33% are under 18 y.o.
* Str. Teleajenului, in the SW part of the municipality – there are 159 persons in 40 households living near the wastewater treatment plant, 55 persons of this community is of Roma ethnicity. The households were initially build on the municipal pasture, without property documents. There are 5 km to city hall, 3 to the school and dispensary, 1 to the nearest food store. Street infrastructure is asphalted 50%. People are living from social benefits (11 state allocation for families, 5 heating aids, 1 disability file), daily work, pensions and salaries. 14 households have no property documents and most are deteriorated, needing consolidation. 35 households are connected to public water system, 9 to sewage system, 37 to electricity. 21 have bath inside. There is public lightning and access to garbage removal services. Here also, the City Hall granted plots and supported access to housing.
* Șos. Ploiești-Văleni, outskirts of the municipality – 21 persons (16 of Roma ethnicity) are living in the community formed by 4 households, 2 with property documents, separated by a railway from the city and not connected to any public utilities, expert for electricity. It is at 5 km from city hall, 4 km from school and nearest dispensary, 1 km from a food store, surrounded by garbage. The streets are paved with gravel. The main occupation is collecting and selling iron. Seasonal migration is also quite present. For the last 5 years, the City Hall has been mediating with the owner of the land and its houses to find a solution beneficial to both parties to solve the legal situation of the land (sale in installments, etc.).
54% of Roma population in the municipality is living in overcrowded houses (<15,33 sq.m./person), while 12% are confronted with housing insecurity, due to the fact they do not posess housing documents.