Milan, 13 June. (askanews) – “One thing must be clear: the Lombardy Region is on the side of legality and tenants who respect the rules. We defend respectable people who pay rent, not defaulters and squatters like Ilaria Salis. Evidently we have different sensitivities. There are those who support the ‘Salis model’, the Region is obviously on the side of honest citizens. Those who occupy housing illegally take away the homes of those who have the right to them: we protect respectable citizens and are against the culture of illegality. They can make all the demonstrations they want about this, but we won’t back down.” This was said by the councilor for housing and social housing of the Lombardy region, Paolo Franco, referring to the new MEP of Avs, under house arrest in Hungary, holder of a debt with Aler, a regional company that manages public residential buildings.
“The Lombardy Region is implementing an unprecedented plan, worth 1.5 billion euros, for public residential construction and subsidized rent housing. The program, called ‘Mission Lombardy’, highlights the care of heritage, the redevelopment of properties and the efficiency of the assignment system. Not recognizing the ongoing effort is at best short-sighted and at worst incorrect and in bad faith” he added regarding the demonstration organized by the unions at Palazzo Lombardia.
“Since I took up my role in the Council – Franco specified – I have always been open to discussions with the unions: no later than a week ago I received a delegation of tenant representatives. My agenda, in the last year and a half, has been full of meetings with the social partners: it is unfortunate that the unions are now giving up dialogue, preferring a street confrontation with an ideological and political flavour. The electoral campaign is over, maybe they haven’t noticed yet” he continued.
The unions are protesting against the modification of the regional regulation for the assignment of public housing, recently approved by the Council, which gives higher scores in the rankings to the elderly, the disabled, single-parent families with dependent minors, newly formed families, parents separated in conditions of economic hardship, to the police and to health service workers. An appeal is pending against the existing regulation with a ruling expected at the beginning of July.
