15 Luiza Street in Budapest, Hungary is home to 14 families — and a story of what organized people can win.
The building is one of 120 public housing properties in Józsefváros, an ethnically and economically diverse district in the Hungarian capital, where 20,000 people live in public housing. For the past four years, residents at 15 Luiza and 40 other buildings in the district have been organizing together, supported by Mandak House, a Lutheran church that has become a vibrant community center under the leadership of Pastor Marta Bolba. Mandak brings together diverse communities — including the district’s large Roma population and many migrant families — and has been a hub for civic organizations working to build democracy at the local and national level.
The organizing has produced concrete results. When Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian government seized 10 public housing buildings — home to more than 200 families — and threatened to demolish them to make way for a university building, tenants fought back and secured a commitment to replacement housing. The Józsefváros Tenants Association demanded and won new management for the company overseeing public housing in the district. And at 15 Luiza Street specifically, residents won a new roof that ended years of leaks and mold, new electrical wiring, a security door, larger apartments, and a renovated patio. They are now pressing to repair vacant apartments in the building.
These victories point toward what is possible at a larger scale. Hungary’s landslide election of a new government committed to restoring the rule of law and transparency creates a genuine opening for public housing reform and for a restructured relationship between the government and religious institutions.
For decades, including under Orbán, the state used funding as a carrot and a stick to control religious leaders and silence clergy who spoke out. Breaking that pattern could allow faith communities to play a far larger role in rebuilding Hungarian society — so that public housing tenants, rural residents, Roma community members, and others can live dignified lives with access to good health care, education, and housing.
Faith in Action International is proud to have the opportunity to work with and learn from Mandak House, the Józsefváros Tenants Association, and Hungarian faith leaders as they work to build a just and inclusive democracy.
