the ROME – A necessary reflection, in these days of emergency, on the condition that the homeless and the reception services are called upon to meet. How will these people, who do not have a house, facing a potential isolation? In the many, the Binario 95, the welcome centre to Rome Termini train Station, we say: #vorreirestareacasa, but what is my house?
People without a home. A homeless person is a person who does not have a home and, in many cases, you do not have a residence. According to the ETHOS typology of the FEANTSA (European Federation of organisations working with homeless people), there are four categories to identify the severe housing exclusion:
– homeless
– people without a house;
– people living in insecure housing;
– people living in inadequate housing conditions.
All of these categories are, however, to indicate the absence of a (true) home. From the people who live in the street or in makeshift shelters to those accommodated in reception centres and dormitories, passing by those who are guests in facilities for refugees and asylum seekers, until all of those use social canteens, low-threshold services and guidance to respond to their needs in the absence of a home.
Forced to use soup kitchens to feed themselves. in Addition to not having a house in which to isolate oneself, homeless people are still forced to use soup kitchens to feed and shelters to sleep in, both places usually crowded and promiscuous, in which the minimum distance can not be, in many cases, respected. Those who do not have a house, moreover, having understood the gravity of the situation and striving with good will to respect the rules, he has a lot of difficulties to adapt to the basic hygienic norms laid down by the DPCM, not to mention the complexity in obtaining the protection devices, because they do not have the economic possibilities.
The risks for the reception services. The current services, such as shelters and dormitories, would not be able to provide assistance to guests infected with the virus. In the event that a guest is ill, the entire property may be foreclosed and, if quarantined, would not be the service for dozens of other users. If the problem is extended to the national level, between care facilities, dormitories, but also between canteen, guidance centres and services of low-threshold, the risk, to prevent absolutely, would be the temptation to want to close the whole system of support to homeless people back in the road at least 50,000 men and women (estimates on Istat 2014), which, however, having limited resources to cope with the virus, they would be potential vehicles of infection.
To overcome these difficulties – supports operators of Binario 95 – a joint effort between the public administrations and entities of the Third Sector that deal with homeless people. Effort that is oriented to the maintenance of services in the security, and the provision of places of potential isolation for homeless people who may be sick; that facilitates the distribution at the centers of devices such as masks, gloves, and a gel; it is oriented to accept that the life of the reception centres may change in terms of timetables and procedures, in order to cope with this moment of crisis with the necessary flexibility in administration.
“What are we doing in our facilities?” In the meantime, in Rome, at Binario 95, the Help Center to the warehouse Nextop MSC and to the Rifugio Sant’anna for women fragile, as well as in other centers of our partners and the national network, operators continue to provide the necessary assistance to those most in need, with the right information on the procedures to be adopted in the case of risk, via a sign, multilingual, simplified and clearly visible. Have also been prepared the safety devices, such as gels, masks and handkerchiefs, and were intensified cleaning of surfaces and environments, with a sanitization ad hoc in the showers after each use. We adheres to the respect of the minimum safety distance, and the relation of the influx of people in unique environments, but above all, it also tries to restore the comfort and closeness to those who, without home and without family, is in these days experiencing moments of particular tension and fear of feeling even more isolated.
requests to the institutions. “Inform, protect, organize, these are the words of the order in our reception facilities, – says Alessandro Radicchi, founder of the guide Rail 95, and the director of the national Observatory of solidarity in Italian stations – we need to protect the homeless people that we host and protect the work of our operators. We ask public institutions, municipal in particular, not to leave us alone and start thinking from the beginning on the possibility of setting up of places dedicated to the quarantine of a home does not have it. Looking to the future, he added, “I think this disaster should lead us to review the reception system, rethinking the role of the centres and giving proper value to the ultimate responsibility of which you bear in the support of people who do not have other forms of support, like family”.
Investment in housing. “you’ll have to think of the investments on housing – said Alessandro Radicchi – the importance of smaller centres, less related to the large numbers, the dialogue with the national health service, which in many places is already highly profitable. The emergency is changing our lives. We hope that this change leads to a new vision that does not exclude still more who live on the margins. All of our guests would like to stay at home, but what is their house?”
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