5) Description of housing product/service offering: The scope of activity of the „Normal Future” Foundation is providing housing help to the impaired university graduates. The young and ambitious impaired graduates are in a particularly difficult situation. They are entering the job market and in order to win the competition with the able-bodied graduates they need to be very well qualified. Unfortunately there is also another obstacle on their way to social integration. What makes finding a job after finishing studies more difficult is lack of an adequately adapted flat. This problem concerns especially the physically impaired coming from small towns, from low-income families. If they return home after finishing their studies they are condemned to hand-to-mouth existence without any chances of finding a job. In a city the physically impaired stand a better chance of finding a job. However, in order to work an impaired person needs to have somewhere to live. Renting a flat is impossible because the flats adapted for the needs of the impaired are currently extremely scarce. Buying a flat is rather impossible as well. Someone who has just finished studies does not have a credit capacity necessary to get a housing credit in a bank. Rotary flats are a solution to this problem. Physically impaired university graduates would have an opportunity to live in the rotary flats for a maximum of 10 years. Thanks to it they would have a bigger chance of finding employment and gaining independence. Having a job they would be able to take a credit and buy their own adapted flats whereas the rotary flats they were living in would help further graduates with gaining independence.

6) Description of innovation: In Poland the problem of accessibility of the adapted flats to the impaired with low incomes has so far been neglected. The developers do not build adapted flats intended for renting. Although the Polish building law requires each newly built residential building to be equipped with a lift and a driveway for wheel-chairs, it does not precise to what extent particular flats should be adapted (e.g. handrails in bathrooms, electrical switches on an appropriate level, no doorsteps). What is more, there is no public system of housing help for the young and active impaired. That is why the lack of an adapted flat is very often the only obstacle in taking up a job and gaining independence by an impaired person. As it is the first attempt of providing the housing help for the impaired people in Poland, ‘rotary flats’ project is very innovative. Accessibility of the rotary flats will allow the impaired graduates to take up employment and gain financial independence. However, if they do not take the advantage of this opportunity and fail to buy their own flat after a few years, they will be forced to return to their home towns and be condemned to exclusion. Rotary flats will not be given to the impaired as gifts. They will simply be a chance for the impaired to actively enter the social life. At the same time, the idea of housing help to the impaired draws attention to the necessity of building flats and equipping them in a way so that they could be fully adapted. The construction of such apartments will heavily influence the professional elicitation and social integration of the impaired.

7) Benefits to clients: As young impaired high school graduates coming from small towns are particularly subject to exclusion, rotary flats are meant for them. Financial situation of the applicants will be the main criterion of granting the rotary flats. The graduates from families with the lowest income per member will have precedence. By obtaining the rotary flats impaired university graduates will avoid returning to small towns, where they would not have any chances for individual and professional development. Taking up employment they will not only cease to collect social benefits from the national budget but also supply it with the money from their income taxes. The image of an impaired person within the society will change as well. They will be no longer perceived as inferior, helpless and care demanding but as the employees and citizens of full value and enjoying full rights.

8) Key operational partnerships: The project of building rotary flats for the impaired is nationwide and will be implemented in cooperation with local governments, Towarzystwo Budownictwa Społecznego (Social Construction Association), Państwowy Fundusz Rehabilitacji Osób Niepełnosprawnych (National Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Impaired) and ‘Normal Future’ Foundation. Rotary flats should be built in every city over 20 thousand inhabitants and managed by the local TBS’s (Towarzystwa Budownictwa Społecznego - Social Construction Associations). Their construction should be financed by local governments and PFRON (National Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Impaired). Applications for granting rotary flats will be considered by a commission featuring the representatives of the local governments, PFRON (National Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Impaired), TBS (Social Construction Association) and the Foundation. ‘Normal Future’ will also be engaged in creating partnerships with local governments and local TBS’s (Social Construction Associations) and in accepting applications for the rotary flat granting.

9) Financial model: As rotary flats are meant for the impaired graduates with low incomes, no financial contribution will be required from the applicants. They will be required to present their income certificates and university diplomas as well as their family income certificates. The main criterion of granting a rotary flat will be the income per family member.

          • Costs as percentage of income: 0

          • Financing: The rotary flats will account for the resources of local Towarzystwa Budownictwa Społecznego (Social Construction Associations). Construction will be financed by local governments (50%) and PFRON (National Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Impaired) (50%). Moreover, we will apply to European Union for financial aid for building rotary flats. The impaired will not participate in construction costs because they will live in rotary flats only for a few years. We are going to spread the idea of building rotary flats for the impaired graduates all over Poland. In our opinion housing help for the young and active impaired should be one of the priorities of all local governments. We expect that in long term local governments in every city over 20 thousand inhabitants will participate in financing rotary flats.

10) Effectiveness

          • Project outcomes: One of the effects of our project will be the growth of employment among the impaired graduates who have obtained rotary flats. Our project will also enable the impaired to develop professionally and to actively participate in social life. They will finally make use of their enormous intellectual potential. Moreover, the national budget will benefit from higher activity of the impaired as the measures spent so far on social benefits will be allocated for other goals. We assume that it will be a long-term project and 3 to 5 rotary flats will be built a year in every city. We estimate that the number of the impaired graduates who will benefit from this kind of assistance will also systematically increase. In 5 years time 50 graduates will be living in rotary flats.

          • Number of clients in past year: Our program will run in 2007. Nobody has benefited from our program over the last year.

          • Percentage of clients that are poor or marginalized: 90

          • Potential demand: In Poland the number of the physically impaired taking up studies has recently been increasing. For example at the moment there are 200 impaired students at Warsaw University. The number of the impaired students at other Polish universities is smaller but it is growing as well. This situation will create an increasing demand for rotary flats. Housing help in the form of rotary flats will be provided in every Polish city over 20 thousand inhabitants. During first 10 years almost 100.000 people will benefit from it.

11) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Start Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: Our intention is to introduce the ‘rotary flats’ project to all Polish cities over 20 thousand inhabitants within the next 3 years. By organizing meetings, conferences and informative campaigns we will underline the necessity of financial help from local governments and PFRON. At the same time we will inform the impaired about the possibilities of getting a rotary flat after finishing studies. This will be for them an additional motivation to be active. We will also present examples of the impaired who thanks to the rotary flat have taken up an employment and have gained independence. It will prove legitimacy of our initiative.

12) Origin of the initiative: The ‘Normal Future’ Foundation was established and is now managed by the impaired students and graduates. The idea of housing help for this group of young people aroused as a result of the difficult situation of our friend who was moving on a wheel-chair. The lack of an adapted flat was the only obstacle preventing her from taking up a job and staying in the city. After studies she would be forced to return to the country where she would not have any chances of finding a job. It appeared that in Poland there is no system of housing help for the young and active impaired. The State and the local governments have for years been neglecting this important aspect of social integration of this group. We have decided to change this situation and we have taken action in order to create a system of housing help for the young and active impaired.

Contact Information:
Mariusz  Barczak
President of the Board
The `Normal Future' Foundation`
(NGO)
Radomska 11 Street, 02-323 Warsaw
Poland
Tel: 48 22 554 94 26
Fax: 48 22 554 94 03
Email: normalnaprzyszlosc@normalnaprzyszlosc.org
Website: www.normalnaprzyszlosc.org