Evictions in Piedmont

In Italy there are 866 thousand poor families who, according to Istat, live in rent and which correspond to 43% of the total number of families in absolute poverty. After the pandemic and the resumption of executions of evictions, about 130-140 thousand households are at risk of remaining on the street: tens of thousands of real estate executions, increases in domestic users as well as the increase in inflation are a burden for families.

According to the Sicet, Sunia, Uniat and Union Tenants for Piedmont unions, evictions can be expected to arrive and probably exceed 5,000 cases. What to do? Surely creativity is a must if we do not want to surrender to the fact that the municipalities proceed in the emergency to dismember families at least temporarily by arranging children, mothers and fathers in different places. 5 thousand cases of which 96% for non-guilty arrears. It has to make us think.

The consideration that I would like to formulate - starting from the direct experience of Cicsene which has settled 2,500 cases of low-income groups in private landlords in Turin and its surroundings in the last 10 years - is that to proceed with variable geometries trying to deal with debts and giving the possibility therefore tenants to stay in the accommodation is perhaps the most sustainable solution. There is no doubt that property law must be respected: in many cases, these are retired owners who rely on rent income to make it to the end of the month. On the other hand, I was told that eviction is often linked to the tenant's inability to pay the utilities.

How to proceed? By organizing with the criteria we talked about last time ("moving from competition to collaboration. The new relationship between public administration and the third sector") to deal with the different cases progressively, but with determination and timeliness. Obviously having set upstream criteria to be followed. So proceed with creativity and pragmatism. However, I am convinced that the proposed solution could be the cheapest compared to other solutions (such as hotel accommodation) and the most suited to social dynamics. Obviously, it seems only right to repeat it, for innocent arrears. Another issue is that of guilty arrears.

I think it would be a relief for small owners who would be compensated for at least part of the unpaid monthly payments and the prospect of income for future months. The application of a method already applied with the large-scale evacuation fund. To be managed with a service rich in relational skills and lacking in bureaucracy that stiffens the procedures.

Gianfranco Cattai
NP Aprile 2022