At the end of this month the residential hotel on Riegrova Street in Olomouc, Czech Republic will close after being home to approximately 135 people, most of them Romani, some of whom have been living there for decades. The building's owner is planning to reconstruct it and change its purpose.
The city says it is collaborating with nonprofits and other residential hotels to aid them with finding accommodation for the evicted. However, some of those who have to move now say the city isn’t doing enough to take care of the situation.
The residential hotel in the historical center of Olomouc has long been a source of complaints and problems. Local residents have complained that its occupants are noisy, get into petty scuffles, and spread garbage to the surrounding buildings.
According to some occupants of the residential hotel, however, the city is not doing enough to resolve the situation. “They want to close it down here and leave the people with children out on the street. Why doesn’t the city arrange something for those of us who have lived here our whole lives?” asked Nataša Gáborová, an occupant who spoke with public broadcaster Czech Radio and who will likely move in with her son in the city of Brno, which is 80 kilometers away in a different administrative region.
