Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Rabaiotti: "The Municipality is always there, and continues to expand the audience of beneficiaries of the contributions"  

Milan, 8 February 2021 - The new call for obtaining vouchers for food shopping is online until 13pm on 8 March on the Municipality's website, aimed at people in need and in particular those affected by the socio-health crisis due to the Covid 19 pandemic.  
These are contributions of 300 euros in the case of families made up of a maximum of three people, or 700 euros if larger. The contributions will be disbursed, as has already happened with previous similar calls, via prepaid card or via smartphone application, at the beneficiary's choice. Overall, the Municipality estimates it can reach around 9 thousand families.  
  
The order of arrival of the applications will in no way constitute a useful element for the establishment of the ranking.  
  
The new tranche of shopping vouchers can count on a budget of 5,879 million, which represents part of the national fund for food aid established as a measure to combat the health emergency. The overall amount of the share attributed to the Municipality of Milan, as provided for by the Legislative Decree of 23 November, is 7,279 million: of these, 1,4 million were allocated to the new food aid system, based on the provision of contributions to Third sector bodies for the purchase and distribution of food to the weakest sections of the population. The entities have been identified through a public notice and their service is about to start.  
  
“Let's get back to engaging with food aid - intervenes the councilor for social and housing policies Gabriele Rabaiotti -. We know that the health crisis is also opening up wounds in the socio-economic fabric, and that there are many people who have suffered a heavy drop in income as a result of the emergency, thus becoming more vulnerable. These two operations, the call for shopping vouchers and the aid mechanism with third sector bodies, are complementary: with the third sector we hope to reach everyone, without particular selective criteria, while with the vouchers, the call for which cannot fail to present access requirements, we have always tried to intercept new, previously unknown demand, families specifically affected by the crisis who have lost income in recent months. We as the Municipality always try to be there: in the interventions managed directly by us, those relating to shopping vouchers, as in those for which we ask for the support of the Third Sector which has always demonstrated its precious availability".  
  
To apply for shopping vouchers you must have an ordinary 2020 ISEE of up to 20 thousand euros or, alternatively, the current ISEE of the family unit. It is always possible to request the current ISEE (which is valid for 6 months) when one of the following two situations has occurred: a change in self-employed or employed work (or in welfare, social security or indemnity treatments, also exempt from Irpef ); or a change in the overall family income of more than 25%. 
  
The applications - it is possible to submit only one per family unit - must be completed exclusively online, by connecting to the Municipality's website (if necessary, information can be requested on 020202), and are also translated into English, French and Spanish. The actual Notice, in addition to these three languages, is also available in Chinese and Arabic.  
It will be possible to receive information and assistance in completing the application by making an appointment at the WeMi municipal spaces starting tomorrow, Tuesday 9 February.  
  
Based on the requests received, the Administration will carry out checks on the admitted requirements. In the event of requests exceeding availability, certain criteria will be taken into account when composing the ranking, such as the presence of minors within the nucleus; that of elderly people over 65; that of people with disabilities; not being beneficiaries of citizenship income or other economic support provided by the Administration, including shopping vouchers assigned during 2020.  
 
A criterion, the latter, which has allowed the expansion of the number of beneficiaries of at least one public subsidy, according to a logic of distribution balance of resources: in 2020, in fact, there were 775 families who, already recipients of the citizenship income and various social services, they also obtained the food contribution out of a total of 21.200 shopping vouchers issued with the tender launched in April, the terms of which were then reopened in June thanks to the arrival of new resources.  
Although the deadline for their spendability had been extended for the first time, in mid-December there were around 800 citizens who still had more than 30 euros to spend (half of them had a residue of more than 250 euros). After the last reminders made in December in which the Municipality warned of the further extension of the deadlines to 15 February 2021 to ensure that there were no residues, the surplus was approximately 370 thousand euros. This is despite the numerous reminders which, through SMS and telephone calls, have engaged the municipal administration and the managers.   
  
At the end of the checks and the composition of the ranking of the new announcement, all those who are beneficiaries will be reached by a communication from the Municipality complete with all the useful information to be able to actually spend the vouchers, the deadline for which is set for November 30th.  
Once the list of eligible candidates has been filled, in the event that economic resources remain or new funding arrives, the terms of the call for tenders may be reopened for a further period. 

Link to the announcement.