Some 100,000 families face prospect of eviction in Italy

The national secretary of the Tenants Union, Walter De Cesaris

 MILAN – The Tenants Union has estimated 100,000 households are due to be evicted across Italy, the group announced Wednesday.

 The exact number of households at risk is uncertain because in Italy no single organisation is dedicated to the calculation. The national secretary of the Tenants Union Walter De Cesaris described the crisis as “an avalanche of over 100,000 evictions," while La Stampa called it a "tsunami" and put its estimate at 150,000 families.

 What is certain is that about 70,000 evictions are pending from the last two years - 32,000 from 2020 and an estimated 40-50,000 from 2021.

 In the metropolitan area of ​​Milan alone, over 18,000 families are at risk of losing their homes, said the councillor for Palazzo Marino housing policy Pierfrancesco Maran. Il Fatto Quotidiano contrasted this with the fact that last year an apartment in the Lombardy capital sold for 18,000 euros per square metre, pointing to stark inequality.

 Politicians battle each other over complexity of access to public housing and the area’s soaring rents. The Northern League party’s Francesco Migliarese has accused Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala of wanting “a city for the rich, forgetting once again the needs of families.” Meanwhile Democratic Party regional councillor Carmela Rozza, among many others, criticised the “failed law” set by the League in 2016. Rozza said the party “claimed to want to give the houses to Italians, but instead they never gave them to anyone, because the law was inapplicable.”

 The municipality is currently approving the public housing offer plan for 2022.

 

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