MASSA – After a two-hour meeting in the Municipality with the mayor and councillor, the USB brings home a first result, but above all the families who would have had to suffer eviction and eviction next week can breathe, for the moment, a sigh of relief . The day, which ended in the evening, began in the hot afternoon. At 4.00 pm the union, supported by some minority councillors, movements and parties such as the Communist Refoundation and the Allegra Revolution went to the Palazzo Ducale to speak with the Prefect. Armed with tents that they would use to camp in Piazza Aranci if their requests were not accepted, the union was asking for the suspension of all seven evictions scheduled between now and next month and which would leave around forty people on the streets in total. Roberto is also with them: he and his wife together with two children, one of which is disabled, should have packed their bags on Wednesday. Roberto Dell’Amico’s situation is particularly delicate and not only for his disabled son. Under his arm, while he waits for the USB delegation to come down from the meeting with the head of the Cabinet, he has the blanket: in the event of having to carry the protest to the end and stop to sleep in one of the tents set up by the trade unionists there under Palazzo Red. The journalists ask him if they can name him and if they can take a photo of him: “It doesn’t matter, go ahead” he replies, but we perceive something in his voice and in that shrug of the shoulders which perhaps reveals an uneasiness. After all, for a man who has always worked hard, who has always supported his family by paying the mortgage for the house, to suddenly find himself without a job at 56 and with no prospect of being reinstated in the world of work, with the bank that after twenty years of installments forecloses on what he now considered the family home, it must be a very bitter pill indeed. But Roberto knows that to save his family from the streets, that is the way to follow: report what is happening with his head held high. The house that Roberto was buying little by little, installment after installment, ended up in the bank and from there in a company in Milan. A company that does not accept as payment the funds for innocent arrears made available by the Region, which gives around 8 thousand euros a year for those in difficulty. In fact, there are many homeowners who do not accept the resources of the regional fund as payment. The situation becomes more critical during the summer months, when tourists are the ones who snap up the accommodation on the market, through the weekly rentals that the owners much prefer.
“We can’t find accommodation anywhere – says Roberto -, no one will rent to you, it’s summer and they want a lot and then they won’t rent it to you anyway. Every time we propose the use of regional funds the owners disappear and in the meantime I should leave the house on Wednesday.”
“Between now and next month – explains Elia Buffa of USB – there are seven evictions and evictions planned: all families with minors, disabilities in the family unit and all innocent defaulters, i.e. they don’t have the money to pay. Two are scheduled this week. We have had meetings with the administration – underlines the trade unionist – but the only response they offer is to turn to private funds: unfortunately, however, in this period it is not possible, it is a fake solution, not a real one because the rents requested are too high also for public employees and these are all seasonal and temporary workers. Two families with minors are in occupied public housing and the others are rented by private individuals and under eviction. If the institutions do not have solutions, we propose that they remain in the accommodation until this summer and then find something else, no one can end up on the streets. We ask the Prefect to suspend the scheduled evictions and take on the responsibilities of taking care of the families, so during the summer we look for concrete and real solutions while waiting for the prices to deflate afterwards, also using the funds from the Region’s innocent arrears to which all these families are entitled. Otherwise we will go back to crying like last winter when a homeless person froze to death: now it’s time to get down to business.”
Nicola Cavazzuti of Rifondazione Comunista adds: “The Municipality of Massa has 94 public apartments which are not inhabited because they are not habitable for the bathrooms or the electrical part and are therefore empty. Roberto cannot think of going on the market with 8 thousand euros: rents reach 700/800 euros a month, plus at a national level the funds for rents have been cut. The 35 apartments at the Mattatoio have been under construction for 5 years in addition to the 94. Housing is a city problem. And the same goes for Carrara – he adds – which has 190 empty apartments”.
“We expect politics to take charge of the situation – Elia Buffa reports before entering into conversation with the mayor Francesco Persiani – The head of the Cabinet says it is not within their competence to block evictions and passes the word to the mayor who will contact”. And so it was. From there the two hours of intense discussion from which USB emerged satisfied. “Our request for a general block on evictions was not accepted – Buffa commented upon leaving the meeting – but we reviewed together, case by case, all the families under eviction and we managed to obtain temporary solutions for the most severe evictions. next, those of next week. It’s a stopgap solution but it’s something. For the other families we will see if we can take some paths. This day was fruitful and shows that mobilization is necessary and I say this addressing all those families who perhaps don’t come to us and remain silent without fighting: we as a union are there.”
