The Region takes action for the forty families left homeless in the Ragusa area due to the lack of maintenance of the buildings of the Autonomous Institute for Public Housing.
The Region ready to intervene
“I am in close contact with the head of our Civil Protection, Salvo Cocina, and we are evaluating the situation to try to intervene in support of the Municipality of Pozzallo to alleviate the discomfort of the numerous families affected by the eviction order issued by the mayor. As a Region we envisage activating financial aid as soon as possible to cover the rent and moving costs that displaced tenants will have to bear” says the president of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani, after learning of the absurd story relating to three buildings in the ‘Iacp located in the Municipality of Pozzallo, subject to an urgent clearance order.
The eviction
The mayor of Pozzallo Roberto Ammatuna had, in recent days, issued an order to vacate the Iacp apartments, at risk of collapse, in which 40 families reside. The provision was issued after inspections carried out by the technical office, the civil engineering office and the independent public housing institute itself.
The note from the prefecture
“The eviction – we read in a note from the Prefecture – is necessary to protect the safety and physical integrity of the residents. It was decided to proceed with a census of the public and private structures present in the district to guarantee accommodation for families who will have to leave their homes which are now uninhabitable”. The eviction was supposed to take place within about ten days but the times were extended due to the difficulties associated with finding accommodation for these families. The problem of the static stability of buildings had already arisen for the first time in 2019
A paradoxical story, the Sicet protest
“A paradoxical and worrying story” defines it as Mimma Calabrò, general secretary of Sicet Cisl Sicilia. “It is unimaginable that public property properties such as those of an IACP are reduced to such risky conditions due to lack of maintenance.”
“And it is not tolerable that the tenants, the families hosted in those buildings, have to pay the consequences.”
“The Pozzallo affair is emblematic of the conditions experienced in Sicily where the right to housing, one of the essential principles of our Constitution, is too often trampled on in many ways”.
A permanent regional table
“We welcome the attention of the President of the region Renato Schifani with the hope that his intervention can be decisive. We have already asked the President of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani, as the main representative of the institutions on the island, to convene all the actors involved in housing policies around the same table. We did so with a note dated April 12th and we reiterate it in light of the latest events. An integrated approach is needed between the Departments of Territory and Environment, Family and Economy. In Sicily the issue of housing represents a social emergency, aggravated by the strong employment crisis”.
