We Deserve a Home

WE DESERVE A HOME - OCCUPATION OF THE FORMER REGINA ELENA HOSPITAL BY THE RIGHT TO LIFE MOVEMENT

(CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION FOR FAIR HOUSING, OBJECTIVE: HOUSING COMMITTEE AND ACTION).

ROME 2008

Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano: outside the Department of Economics and Business at La Sapienza University, just behind the Policlinico Umberto I Hospital. On June 22nd, 2007 three buildings belonging to the former Regina Elena Hospital (which once housed the Departments of Oncology and Nuclear Medicine) and which have been abandoned since 2001, have been occupied in an organized effort by three movements that work to promote fair housing practices (Citizens’ Association for Fair Housing, Objective: Housing Committee and Action).

Despite the fact that the buildings were initially occupied for purposes of a “demonstration” that was intended to influence public opinion and raise awareness among members of the city council regarding the issue of Rome’s housing emergency, one year after the initial occupation (June 2008) approximately three hundred nuclear families are still living here, in an exemplary case of multiculturalism.

Rome’s housing emergency is a situation that is becoming more and more critical; on the one hand rent prices continue to rise sharply and on the other the wage/cost of living ratio is becoming more and more unfavorable.

The families that have occupied the Former Regina Elena Hospital, with assistance and coordination from the aforementioned movements, are asking public institutions and the city council, which is today headed by Mayor G. Alemanno (AN-Pdl), to provide them with non-ghettoized, dignified and immediate alternative housing.

There is often an increased presence of immigrants from South America, Africa the Middle East and Eastern Europe at these citizens’ occupations, including the one that has taken place at the Former Regina Elena Hospital. Many of them are caregivers and housekeepers for Italian families or they are employed part-time as manual laborers who are paid on a day-to-day basis; others are skilled workers, merchants and other types of professionals who are constantly searching for some form of gainful employment.

I took photographs of this occupation over a four-month period and even today what strikes me the most is the impression I had the first time I stepped foot inside these buildings: children, women and men of different ethnicities, nationalities and religions, often times from countries that are at war with one another, living side-by-side, helping and supporting one another.

The organization that exists in this setting, the cleanliness of the kitchens and bathrooms, the twenty-four hour pickets and the assemblies; despite the discussions and disagreements that are bound to occur, everything seems to work smoothly, with the residents managing to overcome misunderstandings and cultural differences.

Now these people are waiting with hopes that they will not be forcibly removed from their homes and at the same time living in fear of attacks from extremist, right-wing groups; they are waiting for public housing to be assigned to them so they will finally have their own space where they can reside with their families.

Photos and Text by © Matteo Gozzi 2009

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