International focus: Roma people denied social housing in Italy
Roma people in the Italian capital are being denied access to
social housing – despite living in segregated and basic camps, far from
facilities such as schools and hospitals. Rome’s authorities have put in place
regulations which prevent thousands of Roma, many of whom were born in
Italy, from applying for public housing in a move which has angered human
rights groups.
Under the new rules, anyone living in a formal camp – fenced-off areas far
from work opportunities, usually patrolled by guards and with cramped metal
containers for housing – is deemed to be in permanent accommodation, and
therefore cannot apply for social housing.
Campaigners suspect the move is politically-motivated – the rules that govern
housing allocation having been amended at the last moment, to prevent Roma from
competing for the highly-coveted properties. They claim it is the latest in a
long list of Italian policies which discriminate against Roma people in the
country.
Costanza Hermanin, programme officer at the
Open Society
Foundation (OSF), says: "The authorities in Italy simply don’t conceive of
Roma as normal human beings. This new regulation is plainly discriminatory, and
also counter-productive as it prevents them from integrating properly into
society."
