The eviction will force men, women and children into the streets, some of whom suffer from severe disability or illness.

Despite a national strategy to improve Roma inclusion in Italy, very little progress has been made.

Over 300 people will be homeless after authorities in Rome decided to close a housing center for Roma families. The facility on Via Salaria is meant to provide temporary housing for families that have been displaced or evicted from other homes.

City officials gave several reasons for closing the center. One of the reasons they gave is that the allowed period of residency in the housing facility is only temporary, even though a designated hosting period has never been written into any of the regulations for the facility, nor has such a message even been communicated to arriving families.

Another reason given by the city was that some of the fundamental rules of the facility were being broken by the families living there, such as the prohibition of accommodating unregistered outside in the center.

Vulnerable residents

The implementation of this eviction decision would worsen the situation of its current inhabitants, making men, women and children more vulnerable, and would surely interrupt the school attendance of children who are now regularly going to school.

Furthermore, dozens of elderly people with severe disabilities and illnesses will be put into streets, without shelter or care. As a result of eviction, they are rendered homeless or placed again into ethnically segregated camps, which inherently restrict the freedoms and fundamental human rights of Romani families.

National Strategy failure?

In 2012, Italy adopted its National Strategy for Roma Inclusion (for the period 2012-2020) focusing on the gradual elimination of poverty and social exclusion of marginalized Romani communities in four main areas: healthcare, education, employment and housing.

However, four years since the adoption of this document, thousands of Romani men, women and children are still denied the right to adequate housing in Italy. No improvement has been achieved in the lives of people belonging to one of the most marginalized communities in the country.

Italian authorities clearly need a wake-up call, as they continue to breach their own commitments and international and EU law.