05 | “Casa della Carita”, Milan: a shelter for migrants and its dispute

Casa della CaritĂ : equal right to social integration A fight against prejudices and political insensitivity

CASA DELLA CARITĂ€ via Francesco Brambilla, Adriano, Milano

Group 05 Afroz Liaquatali Shabnam Fathimaa Ashrafi Seyedeh Elham Foroozesh Farnaz Pibiri Claudia

Index Introduction

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Controversies

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Focus on Casa della CaritĂ

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Location

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History

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Actors

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Timeline

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Conclusion

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Possible actions

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Bibliography and Sitography

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Introduction Casa della carità’s building is a shelter for people in need to a house or a help, which also promotes cultural and forming activities, helping its host regain their independency. It’s located in via Francesco Brambilla, 10, in the North-East area of Milan.

Since the beginning, in 2004, the Foundation has encountered remarkable outcomes, but, on the other side, there have been complaints, coming from some of the inhabitants, and remonstrances, especially since the new government has been established, in 2018.

Controversies Looking for controversies about Casa della Carità, we found out that there have been a few different issues that the centre had to face through its years of activity. Here we expose the most relevant to our analysis, based on the local media news and on interviews made to inhabitants of the house and of its surroundings.

Political Last years in particular have been difficult for accommodation centres, due to the last political address that Italy’s government has taken on the last elections, held in 2018.

This issue can be found also in G14’s controversy case, about CPRs (Centri di Permanenza per il Rimpatrio).

Adriano neighbourhood is not an exception, in fact it has had troubles and discussions with politician from political right parties.

The last one has been joining the protest against minister Salvini’s action of taking off a banner against him exposed on a balcony, followed by the spread of banners throughout Italy.

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https://milano.corriere.it/fotogallery/cronaca/19_maggio_15/striscioni-anti-salvini-quartiere-san-siro-milano-d9efc604-773611e9-8bcc-bbf4d7708d31.shtml 4

This was not the first time in which there have been problems with that ministry and his policies. Recent is also the remonstrance against the illegitimate use of religious symbols, or against the implementation of the new “Safety law�.

https://agensir.it/quotidiano/2019/5/20/salvini-e-il-rosario-al-comizio-casa-della-carita-indignati-dastrumentalizzazione-politica-dei-simboli-religiosi/

http://www.ildomaniditalia.eu/decreto-salvini-la-fondazione-casa-della-carita-molte-personediventerebbero-dei-fantasmi-senza-diritti/

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An other occasion in which the foundation has created “scandalâ€? for the political class happened last Christmas, in December 2018. It has been the making and the exposure, in front of the main entrance, of a crib with the holy family located on a rubber instead than in a hut. This was made in defence of the thousands of migrants that are, during the last years, arriving in Italy seeking for help and shelters, like Casa della CaritĂ .

https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/18_dicembre_10/sacra-famiglia-gommone-centrodestrasilvia-sardone-casa-carita-sala-polemica-inutile-don-virginio-colmegna-03ed8f8a-fc9f-11e8-9879765e1cc1d300.shtml

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Local issue – thievery Beside political issues, we found out the presence of some problems addressed to some of the inhabitants by some residents of the neighbourhood. Some of the people we interviewed, mostly among the one that had lived for a long time in the area, exposed their concerns relating to some thieveries and some alms asking in the surrounding, since the foundation of the shelter. It is however a transitory problem, because the people hosted in the foundation is constantly changing.

Local issue – Shower queue lines An other local concern is the occasional presence of a line outside the building. This happens on the days in which the foundation opens its bathroom to the public, so that everyone, including homeless people, can take a shower or use the services provided.

Unfortunately, the request is higher than the services offered, so the people in need is forced to wait outside, creating sometimes long queues. It has been told us that this can create a sensation of lack of safety among the local residents, also due to the presence of a school on the same road. It is also bad for the people that have to wait, sometimes for hours, on the outside, exposed to bad weather and without the possibility to sit.

Local issue – school Some complaints have also been about the fact that the building once hosted a school, that is a service now missing in the neighbourhood, and someone stated that they would prefer to reconvert it back to its previous function. This problem will be, as we’ll see in the conclusion, resolved soon, because the building of a new school has been already planned and will be realized in the next years.

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Focus on Casa della carità Casa della carità is a foundation that pursues social and cultural goals. Its main building is a proper house, and most of the people helped lives there. The hospitality there offered is free, and, mostly, not affiliated with public agencies. The aim is helping people reconquering their autonomy, helping them regain their health and their rights, and, at the end of the process, finding a job and a house. Cultural and forming activities are also promoted.

The Role of Casa della Carità in the society: The Casa della carità daily receives people in difficulty to whom, through wide and heterogeneous reception services, an attempt is made to respond to the expressed needs. These activities primarily involve listening to and satisfying the first necessities, such as personal care and hygiene, medical examinations, legal advice and job placement. The main recipients are elderly people living alone, inmates of residence, prisoners and former prisoners, asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, entire families in serious difficulties

https://www.agensir.it/quotidiano/2019/5/14/ramadan-milano-casa-della-carita-e-comunitamusulmane-domani-sera-rompono-insieme-il-digiuno/

Showers and wardrobe: The charity house opens its doors to people in difficulty with a shower and wardrobe service through which it is possible to provide personal hygiene and to stock up on clothes. People, welcomed with hot drinks and snacks, can also access the listening centre, the clinics and the legal protection office of the Foundation.

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https://www.mi-lorenteggio.com/2019/05/16/sabato-18-maggio-la-casa-della-carita-fa-il-cambiodegli-armadi/85444/

Trio Project: They are also responsible for the social and labour integration of people leaving the Milanese prisons through the project "Time to start together again and beyond" (TRIO) promoted by the Lombardy Region and ASL Milan 2.

The Charity Academy The Academy was born together with the foundation itself and today, thanks to the commitment of all the realities, private and public, that support it, it organizes conferences, seminars and activities aimed at both professionals and the entire citizenry. Furthermore, it maintains a close relationship with the Milanese universities, also activating internships.

SOUQ (Study Centre for Urban Suffering) The Casa della caritĂ promotes scientific research and training activities through the SOUQ - Urban suffering study center. These actions involve the operators of the House with the aim of linking the social and cultural activities of the Foundation, in a process of continuous national and international research.

In particular, SOUQ deals with phenomena related to urban suffering, that is to say the social problems present in the metropolises of the world: marginalization, exclusion, poverty, discrimination and migration.

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Location

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From the above figures and maps we see that the population is of high concentration along the Martesana river in the old Adriano region which is occupied majorly by immigrant population with a higher family component as compared to the other zones.

The new zones are occupied by younger population of low family components. This unequal saturation of population and overall low elderly population density may be due to the relationship of income, rents of the new buildings and the suitability of typology.

Hence making Adriano younger than average, socially and ethnically diverse.

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History Foundation Casa della Carità “Angelo Abriani” was founded in 2002 by Milan’s archbishop at the time, cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. He decided to use the important amount of money the entrepreneur Angelo Ambriani left to open an accommodation for people in need.

Milan municipality decided to make available for them a building, and after a restoration, on November 24th 2004 Casa della Carità was officially opened in via Francesco Brambilla in Crescenzago neighbourhood. To the opening were present Martini, Archbishop Dionigi Tettamanzi, mayor Gabriele Albertini and the president of the foundation don Virginio Colmegna.

Warranter of the Foundation are the mayor and Milan’s archbishop, administration is given to the president, who leads an administration council made of five people and a board of auditors of three more people.

Since November 2004, there have been additions to the spaces reserved to male and female hospitality, with the addition of the ones of Community So-stare, for people with particular needs, and the ones of Casa Nido, small apartments for mothers with their children and families that lost their home. Also on the outside of via Brambilla there is the presence of some tens of apartments managed by the Foundation, to host more people or entire families.

Since its first days of activity, Casa della Carità isn’t just a shelter and care center, but also a social laboratory in which find their space cultural activities, research, entertainment, and confrontation with different realities.

Gathered in Accademia della carità in the building operate also: Soug (Centro studi sofferenze urbana), Biblioteca del confine, Orchestra dei popoli.

In ten years of activity the Foundation hosted 2507 people from 95 different countries, and organized, hosted and promoted many cultural and political events, even of international relevance, and theatre play and spectacles, hosted in the Auditorium.

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Actors

Politicians Part of Italy’s new leading party is trying to reduce immigration, reducing funds for services like Casa della carità and making laws that makes surviving and operating more difficult for them.

Casa’s founders and workers Casa’s founders and workers have sometimes had troubles finding fundings, the house almost closed in 2013 due to the reduction of funding addressed to it.

Inhabitants against Part of the population complain for the presence of the occasional shower line, the absence of a school and are concerned about safety.Some even express concern to vocal expression of opinion.

Inhabitants pro Part of the inhabitants are happy with the work Casa della carità is doing, feel safe and participate in the activities and charity programs there organized.

They help economically maintaining the house in activity.

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Casa’s residents The residents are mostly happy with the services provided them by the Foundation.

Timeline

Conclusion The controversy was aimed to bring forth an urban condition whose social, cultural and political contention is tangible. Each of the actors have a conjecture that is difficult to overlap with the other without understanding each in detail to reach a probable solution. While the overall perception of the house of charities activities is encouraged in the broader sense of the controversy some reservations persist at local level, which can be due to personal reservation and or against involvement in the political issues .

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Possible actions It would be too difficult to think about some possible solutions with the information we were able to gather during this studio, we would need to do more research, and in-deep interviews, but we know that something is already being done to possibly solve the controversies, at least the ones on the local level, because on the political level the solutions would have to be thought for the whole country.

About the first controversy, that is the presence of thievery and charity asking, what is being done is teaching new jobs to new inhabitants and entertaining them, so they will be able to look out for themselves when they will be able to go away from the home. Also activities aimed for integration, collaboration and for fighting prejudices are being held, and it would be nice if they included different part of the population.

For the problem given by the creation of the lines an easy solution, already proposed, would be opening the bathrooms for more days during the week, in this way people in need would be more diffused and not create a big line. Also the creation of buildings where people could sit, shelter in case of bad weather and wait could be a solution.

For the school-replacement issue, instead, there is an already planned solution: a new one will be built close to Casa della carità’s site, and it’s expected to be built in the next few years.

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Bibligraphy and sitography Morandi Corinna (2007), Milan: the great urban transformation, Marsilio, Venezia Pezzoni Nausica (2017), “Migrants Maps To explore the Contemporary City”, in Laura Iannelli, Pierluigi Musarò (eds.), Performative Citizenship. Public Art, Urban Design, And Political Participation, cap. 9, Mimesis, pp. 169‐186 http://www.casadellacarita.org/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/1 https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/18_dicembre_10/sacra-famiglia-gommone-centrodestrasilvia-sardone-casa-carita-sala-polemica-inutile-don-virginio-colmegna-03ed8f8a-fc9f-11e8-9879765e1cc1d300.shtml https://milano.corriere.it/foto-gallery/cronaca/19_maggio_15/striscioni-anti-salvini-quartiere-sansiro-milano-d9efc604-7736-11e9-8bcc-bbf4d7708d31.shtml https://agensir.it/quotidiano/2019/5/20/salvini-e-il-rosario-al-comizio-casa-della-carita-indignati-dastrumentalizzazione-politica-dei-simboli-religiosi/ http://www.ildomaniditalia.eu/decreto-salvini-la-fondazione-casa-della-carita-molte-personediventerebbero-dei-fantasmi-senza-diritti/ https://www.agensir.it/quotidiano/2019/5/14/ramadan-milano-casa-della-carita-e-comunitamusulmane-domani-sera-rompono-insieme-il-digiuno/ https://www.mi-lorenteggio.com/2019/05/16/sabato-18-maggio-la-casa-della-carita-fa-il-cambiodegli-armadi/85444/ https://www.theitaliantimes.it/economia/decreto-sicurezza-testo-cos-e-cosa-prevede-cambiasalvini-immigrazione_050619/ www.istat.it

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