Scientists will focus on the life chances of residents of excluded localities

According to data from the Agency for Social Inclusion, Ostrava is one of the regions with the highest number of people living in excluded localities. Many of them find or have found employment in manual occupations and in coal mining and related production. However, the so-called 'dirty' industries have long been in decline. The Moravian-Silesian Region now has an ambitious plan for a fair transformation, which should lead to a long-term sustainable industrial production. This is linked not only to higher levels of automation, but above all to higher demands on the expertise of employees. From this perspective, the most vulnerable group of the population, which will be most affected by the transformation process, is precisely those with the lowest education levels, who are already often facing social exclusion. However, without their greater involvement and inclusion in mainstream society, no transition process can be considered successful. The REFRESH project therefore aims to trace which types of in-kind assistance are protective and reduce social inequality.

There are various but highly fragmented sub-studies and data that collect information on the number of excluded locations, how they are defined and how they change over time. However, the understanding of what exactly happens in these localities, why people move to them and what tools they have to leave them is patchy and lacks systematicity.

The REFRESH project will now enable teams of experts from across the University of Ostrava to conduct systematic research in socially excluded localities. They will look at the issues of people in these localities from many angles and in a variety of contexts. The first phase of their work will consist of collecting data that should give an indication of the reasons why selected groups of inhabitants find themselves in a disadvantaged position and what factors are of key importance for raising the standard of living of people in excluded localities.

While pushing the poorest inhabitants to the periphery may seem like a politically quick and easy solution to the problem, in the long run we are losing potential skilled workers and, most importantly, we are deliberately creating highly economically dependent agglomerations. We know from the data that in 2006, 60-80 0000 people lived in excluded localities; in 2015, it was already 90-115 000 people. However, the number of people experiencing some form of poverty, be it energy, digital or transport poverty, is increasing and is not limited to socially excluded localities. This group now also includes some elderly people and single parents. If these people do not own their own home, are facing foreclosure, are at risk of losing their jobs or have low levels of education, the likelihood of social exclusion rises steeply.

We don't really know anything about people from excluded localities

"There are a number of segregated localities in Ostrava that we deliberately do not label as excluded, but as segregated. This means that these localities did not arise on their own, but someone decided that they would be in that place. At the moment, we have already prepared a genealogical analysis of how these sites came into being and why. These are localities that are separated from the rest of the city by a physical barrier in the form of a factory, green growth, a railway line and so on," says Petr Kupka from the Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Social Studies of the University of Ostrava, who will be working with his team to monitor patterns of victimization, crime and its control in relation not only to residents of socially excluded localities, but also to other marginalized social groups such as people with disabilities. In addition, his research team will prepare a study on residential mobility in socially excluded localities. Specifically, the researchers are interested in how often people in these places move and for what reasons.

"We don't really know anything about this population group, yet marginalised social groups are the first to face the consequences of major social changes. They are the ones you can see most clearly what is actually happening in society and what could theoretically happen in the future to other social groups. These people are the buffers of change," Kupka adds.

People from excluded localities as a litmus test of social change

Today, for example, energy poverty is often discussed as a new social phenomenon. In the Ostrava region alone, it afflicts almost 3,000 households. However, the inhabitants of excluded localities have been suffering from energy poverty for a long time. Due to discrimination, standard housing is often unavailable to them, they inhabit houses that cannot be heated to an acceptable temperature, are not insulated, have damaged windows, roofs and utility networks. Rents are often exorbitant, even though the houses are in poor technical condition, far from public transport stops, shops or good schools.

The Moravian-Silesian region currently has the highest level of housing need. Therefore, the number of people who cannot afford adequate housing may increase in our region.

"The current housing crisis, when even people from the middle social classes are having difficulty finding affordable and decent housing, is nothing new for residents of socially excluded localities. They face this crisis practically all the time. However, it only became a political problem worthy of a solution when the housing crisis affected the middle class," Kupka points out, adding that the lack of housing for the poorest residents has led to the poverty trade and the emergence of a number of residential hotels and segregated localities. Meanwhile, previous research by researchers at the Faculty of Social Studies shows that family, community and, most importantly, where and how we live have a profound effect on our future education and employment.

Excluded locations are often places that are also associated with higher crime rates. The reality is that very little is known about this issue. "In this context, available Czech studies claim that people living in excluded localities are much more likely to be victims of crime than people who do not live in such places. This puts the image of excluded localities as universally dangerous places on its head. But how did these areas get their reputation? In our research, we will therefore be interested, among other things, in how the media contribute to the criminalization and creation of a sense of fear of crime associated with residents of excluded localities, the majority of whom are Roma. The public draws information about what is happening in these localities mainly from the media," Kupka said.

We need to strengthen education programs that work, but what are they?

The Faculty of Education's REFRESH research team will focus on children who, despite their disadvantaged social backgrounds, are performing above expectations in school. Researchers will be interested in what helps children overcome disadvantageous barriers and whether there are any common protective factors that enable them to cope with school. "We know that this is not an insignificant number of children. The resilient ones, i.e. children who, despite their poorer social background, manage the educational process very well, may be as many as a quarter," said Steriani Elavsky, head of the research team at the Faculty of Education. The aim is to track mechanisms, programmes or measures that are successful within schools and apply them to a wider group of children and schools in the future. At the moment, research by the Institute for Social Inclusion shows that Czech schools are failing to close the gap for children from disadvantaged or unstimulating backgrounds. "Schools are involved in various European projects, cooperate with various non-profit organisations or have their own support programmes, and we need to find out which of them actually help disadvantaged children. At the moment we don't know," she added.

Families living in excluded localities usually have three or more children, and it should be our priority to focus on higher education and support not only for children but for entire families in these localities. Moreover, according to data from the Statistical Office, a life of poverty is passed on to the next generation, who lose the chance of a better life.