Struggle for the housing right - Squatters in Milan area
The squatters are at least 5000 throughout Italy, in the data of a hypothetical census of more than a decade ago by the state police, the illegal occupants linked to the world of "new antagonism", so defined generically by the order forces. Anarchists, libertarian communists, autonomous or simply rebels, young, precarious and unemployed. From the center to the suburbs, the struggle for the right to housing passes through Milan and winds through the popular neighborhoods of the entire metropolis. One of the symbolic areas of the movement is the “via Gola”, a small popular handkerchief adjacent to Ticinese, one of the districts of Milan's nightlife. Here the abusive occupations, in the popular buildings managed by Aler, reach 40%. Milan, the economic capital of northern Italy, is the Italian city with the highest rents in the country. For an apartment in the center, in fact, the cost is around 8000 euros for square meter, while in the suburbs not below 2000 for square meter. The situation does not improve with rents that, in the center, are around 20 euros for square meter, compared to about 10 euro in the suburbs. The houses owned by Aler, the Azienda Lombarda Edilizia Residenziale which manages about 40,000 lodgings in the city, are not sufficient for the real needs of the city, the lists for the very long assignment and the exhausting wait. Despite the continuous evictions agreed at the table of the Prefecture abusive occupations continue to increase from year to year, also because of the economic crisis, a result of the real housing emergency that keeps in check the weaker groups.
