Description of IRIS housing program

I study the impact on Roma families of being resettled from the slums by IRIS housing program. In what follows, I summarise the main characteristics and features of this housing program15.

In total, more than 2,000 Spanish Roma families were participating in IRIS housing program by the start of my survey 16_{, a number that corresponds to approxi-}

mately 12-18% of the total number of Spanish Roma currently residing in the Region of Madrid, according to estimates by IRIS (2010). In Figure 3.1, I show the number of slum dwellings censused for the years 1999 to 2011 and the number of families re- housed by IRIS during that period. The graph on the left shows a decrease from more than 1,600 families living in slums in 1999 to less than 400 in 2011. The corresponding data is shown in Table 3.3.

IRIS housing program is offered to families living in settlements that the Region of Madrid has agreed to “clear” (negotiations take place between the municipality in which the slum is located and the Region of Madrid). Not all families living in a settle- ment can participate in IRIS program; the basic requirements for being eligible for the program are17_{: Proof of residence, declared income of less than 22,365}e_{, no properties,}

not having had rejected another offer of public housing in the Region of Madrid, and being older than 25 years old18_{. Proof of residence has varied during the years, but for}

the latest resettlement operations –the ones concerning the majority of the sample in our study– IRIS has been requesting proof of residence by 31 December 2004. According to IRIS staff, a large number of families did not fulfil these requirements in the 5 to 8 years before our survey took place, but the majority of families that were rejected were 15_{For a detailed description and discussion of IRIS housing program, see chapter 2 in Santiago}

(2015c).

16_{The participation in the program is for good: Subsidized rental housing with no time limitation,}

conditioned on paying the rent. The number of families participating in IRIS program as of December 2011 was 2,254 (8,972 individuals), and IRIS estimates that 90% of them are Roma.

17_{As of December 2012.}

18_{The age constraint is relaxed for couples older than 18 years old if they have children and live in}

Table 3.3: Number of families living in slums and rehoused by IRIS, 1999-2011

Number of families

Year Living in slums Rehoused by IRIS Rehoused by IRIS (census) (Yearly) (Accumulated) 1999 1618 249 249 2000 1537 285 534 2001 1207 168 702 2002 1054 130 832 2003 1164 94 926 2004 1466 23 949 2005 1292 117 1066 2006 1084 155 1221 2007 974 123 1344 2008 1073 38 1382 2009 950 45 1427 2010 685 94 1521 2011 388 170 1691 Notes: Entries in column 2 present the number of families cen- sused in slum dwellings for the years 1999 to 2011, as recorded in the official censuses collected by IRIS for internal use. Entries in columns 3 and 4 represent the number of families rehoused by IRIS each year, from 1999 to 2011. Data are from IRIS Adminis- trative records, as published in IRIS Annual Reports (years 1999 to 2011). The data is presented in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Number of families living in slums and rehoused by IRIS (1999-2011)

Notes: The figure on the left presents the number of families censused in slum dwellings for the years 1999 to 2011, as recorded in the official censuses collected by IRIS for internal use. The figure on the right presents the number of families rehoused by IRIS each year, from 1999 to 2011. Data are from IRIS Administrative records, as published in IRIS Annual Reports (years 1999 to 2011). Data entries are provided in Table 3.3.

rejected either because they had another property elsewhere or did not having proof of residency in the slum. In order to verify this claim made by IRIS, I collected informa- tion on a particular slum, Salobral. The data I collected supports the claim, for the case of Salobral19_{. Previous to the last 8 years before my survey, almost all families were}

accepted into the program.

Almost all families that are offered a house by IRIS accept it –99% of the fam- ilies, according to IRIS sources. Also, very few families choose to leave the program. Figure 3.2 shows the percentage of families that have stayed in the program, have been expelled, and have quitted from it20_{. The majority of the families (90.9%) have stayed}

in the program, and only 1.4% of them chose to leave the flat (voluntarily or involun- tarily, e.g., due to death). 7.7% of the families were expelled by IRIS due to a long and considerable delay on their payments of the flat’s rent. The majority of the families expelled were resettled by IRIS between the years 1998 to 2000, so they do not concern my analysis because I construct my sample from families rehoused by IRIS between the years 2001 and 201121.

19_{See Santiago (2015c)}

20_{Data comes from IRIS Administrative Records, as retrieved in May 2010.}

Figure 3.2: Families permanence in IRIS program

93.35% 1.222%

5.423%

Living in IRIS flat Left IRIS flat by own choice

Expelled from IRIS flat

Permanence in program (% families)

Notes: The figure shows the percentage of families that have remained in the program (green), have been expelled from the program (red), or have left the program by own choice (yellow). The data is from IRIS administrative records, as retrieved in May 2010. I present the data from these figures in??.