Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Rabaiotti: “We have worked to deal with the health emergency as best as possible. This must be the moment to welcome and listen to those in need so that they can be helped to become independent"

Milan, November 26 2020 - Night reception centers for homeless people reopen. Starting from next Monday and until March, the cold plan will be active again which for the winter season provides for the strengthening of the beds already available in the reception centers throughout the year.

Many facilities, both owned by the Administration and offered by Third Sector bodies, will be opened gradually according to needs for a total of approximately 2 thousand beds, which in case of need can reach the number of 2.700.

To respond to the Covid-19 health emergency, the municipal structure in viale Fulvio Testi 302 will be made available which, with the management of Spazio Aperto Servizi and the health support of Emergency, will be able to accommodate homeless people (15 places can be activated immediately) with symptoms attributable to Covid or, if necessary, with difficulty maintaining isolation in reception facilities. The Administration is also preparing other isolation facilities, four socio-recreational centres, should the situation require it.

“The Cold Plan underlines the attention that has marked the Municipality's action towards the homeless for many years now - comments the councilor for social and housing policies Gabriele Rabaiotti -. An attention that translates into the fact that every year we try to strengthen the residential system of stable places: following this line of action, the Cold Plan is not only intended to be emergency, built to respond to an immediate need, but also the moment of welcoming and listening to people to begin with them a path of accompaniment to autonomy. This year, as a result of the health emergency, we have tried to increase the temporary structures open for the Cold Plan, in order to reduce the number of people welcomed by each of them and, therefore, the risk of contagion. Furthermore, we have activated a service dedicated to health care and prevention which will have its main offices in the Sammartini Center (the former CASC), where a space dedicated to health screening is being set up, and in the residential facility for symptomatic patients in viale Fulvio Testi”.

Already throughout the year, the Milanese residential system provides for the availability of a thousand places, distributed between different structures: Casa Jannacci, via Fantoli, Casa Rossa in Corso Lodi and via Aldini, in addition to the micro communities and accommodation in Housing first and Housing led. In via Mambretti, then, there are places for homeless people with chronic pathologies, disabilities or addiction problems and those leaving the hospital health system.

To these, specifically for the Cold Plan, are added other structures made available by the Administration, such as the mezzanine of the Central Station, via Ripamonti, via Barabino, Porta Vigentina and via San Marco, and those owned by Third Party bodies and associations sector, which this year the Administration also asked to reorganize the internal spaces in order to guarantee isolation, if necessary. In total, there are approximately another 800 specially set up beds, which could be further increased if the situation so requires. 

The Sammartini Center (the former Central Station Help Center) is in operation as always, where there is a multidisciplinary team that welcomes people in the new space in via Sammartini 120 and which is open every day, including Saturday, Sunday and holidays. By calling 02.88447647 you can request information on services, residential facilities, mobile units, day centres, canteens and public showers. The health service, always active before accessing the facilities, has been strengthened through collaboration with Emergency and Ats, as well as with Italian volunteer doctors and Stop TB, which also allows swabs to be carried out before entering the facilities. hospitality.

In the evening hours, the Reporting Service managed by the Milanese Committee of the Red Cross and by Fondazione Progetto Arca and coordinated by the Central Station Help Centre, will collect the needs, monitor the presence of homeless people and coordinate the service of the 19 Third Sector associations which provide provision of night mobile units (ordinary and specialist) to guard the city every night. This year too, they will have around 15 beds available at the Little Refuge reserved for homeless people who are identified at night by the mobile units and convinced to accept hospitalization in the centers and who will therefore be able to spend the night in one of the places reserved for emergencies. The following day, through the Sammartini Center, they will be able to check the possibilities of permanent accommodation.

Among the services for the homeless, the single number is active 24 hours a day, 24 days a week. 02 to report the presence of people in difficulty sleeping on the street.

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