Less and less housing available and more and more families struggling to pay the rent. What is happening in Rovigo is a real housing emergency which the Municipality is trying to deal with, even if the numbers are still unbalanced.
It is no coincidence that emergency is spoken of in no uncertain terms in the resolution approved by the deputy subcommissioner of Palazzo Nodari Fabrizio Cesarino with which he forwarded to the Region the request to increase the percentage of housing allocated to difficult situations. In essence, the Municipality is asking to increase the spaces to be set aside to provide a roof, at least temporarily, to families who find themselves homeless for the most diverse reasons.
In fact, the Municipality can reserve a rate not exceeding 10% of the housing to be assigned annually “to deal with specific documented housing emergency situations” we read in the document signed by Cesarino. But the 10% limit can be raised if the regional council gives its authorization. And this is why Cesarino is asking to increase the share of emergency accommodation from 10 to 15%. The homes in question are used to offer temporary accommodation even to people who do not meet the requirements established by law. However, in this case “the temporary accommodation cannot exceed the duration of one year, possibly extendable by a further year” after which the accommodation returns to the availability of the Municipality or Ater and must be vacated by the tenant.
As mentioned, the situation in Rovigo has worsened over the last year and, among other reasons, the emptying of Casa Serena has also had a significant impact and the hotel house established within it. “Over the last few years, the number of families with serious or urgent housing needs has increased significantly due to the serious and critical economic-social situation which is causing their weakening, not allowing the payment of rent on the private real estate market” .
Added to this is the fact that Rovigo and the surrounding area “presents a particular shortage of accommodation available for rent”. Then there are the factors of a social nature: growing unemployment, temporary work contracts, increase in evictions which impact already fragile people and families, situations of family conflict, domestic violence and notable economic difficulties of single-parent households have meant that the number of “those who turn to the Municipality’s social services to find urgent, even temporary, solutions to their housing problems”.
The numbers, in this sense, speak for themselves.
For 2024, the available public housing units are 71 units which include 63 units owned by Ater and 8 owned by the municipality, a number which however “could increase on the basis of additional accommodation that may become available during the year”. From January to today, the families who have turned to the Municipality for housing emergency reasons are 52 but, the Municipality reports, “the names are constantly increasing”. Among other things, the authorization from the Region to increase the housing quota to 15% has already been granted in September 2023 to “priority protect emergency situations attributable to Casa Serena” and therefore cases of housing emergency, unrelated to Casa Serena “have not been able to have their needs met, consequently increasing the number of requests for emergency accommodation” for 2024.
