2024-07-26 22:14:24
BOLZANO. Cold emergency centers have closed their doors in one of the coldest and rainiest springs in recent years. Since May 1st, about a hundred homeless people have found themselves on the streets. Many of them, especially migrants, have moved elsewhere for seasonal work. Others had already found a job, in Bolzano, but is being a waiter or working a few hours in a warehouse enough to be able to afford a rented house?
The association is there to answer Bozen in solidaritywhich in recent months has been distributing tents, clothes and blankets to help those who, with the closure of the dormitories, found themselves living under bridges and along the banks of the river. First in the rain and during the cold nights that lasted until late June. Now under the sun. “Among them there are also dozens of workers, both male and female,” explains the president of the association Federica Franchi, “People who risk losing their jobs to street life.”
Situations where you sleep in the rain, and the next morning you prepare to serve in the dining room. “Without the possibility of washing your clothes, or presenting yourself in a dignified manner,” continues Federica Franchi. Currently along the left bank of the river, between Roma bridge and Resia bridgea community of about thirty homeless people lives there. «Many of them until the closing they slept at the Ex Alimarket (the cold emergency center on Via Gobbetti, ed.). Some work, others don’t, but they all seem to be asylum seekers”, Franchi underlines.
Another ten camped out in Trento Streetin the fenced area of the Municipality, with many protests from the residents of the area, who complain about the waste and dirt, which in the heat make the area unlivable. Several evictions have already been carried outothers will continue in the coming weeks. Necessary interventions, especially from a safety point of view: both for the proximity to the river and the road, and for the hygienic-sanitary conditions in which the makeshift beds are found. “Simply sending them away is useless”, protests Federica Franchi, “Throwing away, among other things, the tents that we ourselves distribute. It is absurd that people who work, asylum seekers, are evicted without being given an alternative on where to go. Demanding that they disappear. This is a point on which the city should reflect, instead of just complaining about the degradation”.
Places in the facilities
To date, throughout South Tyrol, they are 627 places available in dormitories open all year round. In Bolzano 95 in the Comini center, and 23 in the former Sad, in via Roma, a structure that welcomes workers. “When the renovation of the Pacinotti center is finished, it will be possible to create one hundred places there”, explains the municipal councilor Juri Andriollo«It will be essential to keep the emergency areas, for first reception, separate from those intended for workers, at an affordable price». M.A.
2024-07-26 22:14:24