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The poverty business: landlords, illicit practices and reproduction of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Czechia

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Abstract

This paper is guided by the question: How do illicit practices of organized groups contribute to the formation and reproduction of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Czechia? By asking this question we depart from the dominant understanding of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the study of organized crime. Instead of seeing them as “breeding grounds of organized crime”, it is explored how regular neighbourhoods can decline as a result of illicit practices carried out by certain organized groups. The context of the paper is the so-called “poverty business”, which refers to the renting of overpriced, substandard housing, financed considerably using housing benefits and thus exploiting the housing need of vulnerable social groups, namely Roma. Using the literature on Roma marginalization and illicit housing practices, an analytical framework that consists of the concepts of speculation, exploitation and liquidation is created and applied to two cases of disadvantaged neighbourhoods: “the Hostel” in Brno and “the Neighbourhood” in Litvínov. In conclusion, the adequacy of the organized crime perspective is critically discussed and the need for further research articulated.

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Notes

  1. The name of the localities, individuals and companies we encountered during our fieldwork were pseudonymized. Some of the activities described in this paper and disclosed during fieldwork might, in some cases, serve as grounds for criminal investigation. Some actors will therefore remain fully anonymous to avoid confusion over their criminal liability. It will remain for the court to define the boundaries of their criminal responsibility.

  2. Winkling is the “offering of financial inducements to tenants so as to persuade them to leave their accommodation” (Nelken 2013: 51). It is legal in Czechia.

  3. Equivalents in other languages include “marchand de sommeil,” “huisjesmelker” or “slumvärd”.

  4. Hostel is the English equivalent for the Czech word “ubytovna,” which refers to any building used for temporary accommodation. Hostels for the poor in Czechia are similar to houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) in the UK.

  5. As an example, the cost of rent for one room in a hostel with a shared bathroom and kitchen totalled at 15,000 CZK (584 €) including utilities (Dragoun 2019). For comparison, this amounts to the price of rent, including utilities, for a one-bedroom apartment in one of Prague’s more desirable areas (Adamcová 2019).

  6. The average price of real estate in the Neighbourhood on May 1st 2020 was 288,000 CZK, regardless of the size. The units can be bought for even half of the price, as our informants purchased apartments for under 100,000 CZK (approx. 3,690 €). The average rent was estimated at 10,000 CZK (approx. 369 €) per month (ASZ 2019: 6).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all informants who shared their experiences mentioned in the paper with us. We also would like to thank Dr. Kateřina Hušková for her administrative issues support in public data gathering, Tomáš Hlaváček for providing documentary video footage from one of the research sites and Lucie Halášková for her assistance with translation.

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Czech Science Foundation (Grant Nr. 19-13296S).

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  1. Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of West Bohemia, Univerzitní 8, 301 00, Pilsen, Czech Republic

    Petr Kupka, Václav Walach & Alica Brendzová

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  1. Petr Kupka
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Correspondence to Petr Kupka.

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Kupka, P., Walach, V. & Brendzová, A. The poverty business: landlords, illicit practices and reproduction of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Czechia. Trends Organ Crim 24, 227–245 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-020-09402-x

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