Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The objective of the R-HOME project is to contribute to the fight against discrimination against Roma by focusing on two aspects:

• reduce discrimination regarding access to housing, through a better understanding of housing problems and provide Roma with the tools and knowledge to assert their rights
• support the social inclusion of Roma through a path of empowerment, promoting their active participation and encouraging the development of activism by and for Roma.

Housing, one of the fundamental human rights enshrined in international legislation, has been identified as a key issue of the project as living in inadequate and segregated situations also generates serious problems in other aspects of life, such as education, employment and Health. Inadequate housing conditions have a negative impact on the possibility of social inclusion.

It is therefore necessary to find solutions to reduce the gap between Roma and the rest of the population regarding access to healthy and safe housing and essential services such as drinking water, electricity and gas.

To contribute to this ambitious goal, the project's activities are aimed at improving knowledge of Roma housing conditions and housing policies in partner countries, both from a theoretical point of view, but also by listening to the experiences and opinions of Roma themselves.

The problem addressed has multiple dimensions:

• affects local and national policies
• involves the opinions and prejudices of society 
• calls into question the ability of Roma to become an active part of social and political life. 

Despite the importance of their involvement, Roma communities have difficulty developing paths of active participation.

Empowerment is fundamental to play an active role in society, in fact Roma are often the subject of policies and actions carried out by others.

Only in rare cases do Roma have elected representatives in local or national governments.

Empowerment is especially important for young people and women.

Women, in fact, are victims of multiple discrimination and an improvement in their conditions has a direct impact on the family and the community.

Young people, on the other hand, represent the future and are the key to breaking the vicious circle of discrimination and intergenerational poverty.

The Project is funded by the program Rights, Equality and Citizenship Program 2014-2020 of European Union
Topic: REC-RDIS-DISC-AG-2018 - Call for proposals to support national or transnational projects on non-discrimination and Rome integration
Grant Agreement no. 849199
 

Duration: 24 months
Start date: 01/10/2019
End: 30/09/2021 (currently extended to 31/03/2022)

For more information, you can consult the place of project.

Two seminars are planned, entitled "The rights of the weak are not weak rights. Access to housing and services for Roma, Sinti and Caminanti groups", on the days of:

• 20 October 2021, 10am-12pm, both at House of Rights - Via De Amicis, 10 (Milan)
• 9 November 2021, 10am-12pm, at Caritas Ambrosiana - Via San Bernardino, 4 (Milan)

The Roma are a part of the population that lives in constant housing insecurity and experiences the difficulty of accessing services on a daily basis.
Starting from an analysis of the territory and some of the interventions carried out in recent years, the meetings will be aimed at discussing and sharing the good practices to follow and the less than virtuous paths to avoid. 

For info and details, you can download the playbill.

Rome voices around Europe - Guarda short interviews with Roma populations in Europe.

Trapped in a hovel. Discrimination and housing deprivation of Roma in European cities

The report presents the results of qualitative research on the problems of access to a quality housing system for people who identify as Roma, through qualitative interviews and focus groups.

The research does not aim to compare and analyze the urban and territorial specificities of the different cases examined, but analyzes them overall to highlight the main problems faced by Roma people in very precarious housing situations.

In the same way, the interviews and dialogues within the focus groups with the experts and with the policy makers were analysed, who discussed the importance of producing new forms of social housing and improving existing residential units. , as well as the quality of the urban fabric of the most marginal areas.

The themes are structured into three main sections:

• housing conditions
• housing discrimination
• policies and tools.

The conclusions highlight some design and implementation principles that emerge from the research.

In this page of the project website it is possible to download the complete research in Italian.

The objective of the booklet is to provide a summary of lessons learned from some housing experiences selected among those of the project partners, which directly or indirectly target Roma populations in some areas of France, Italy, Hungary , Romania and Spain.

The booklet takes into consideration 14 practices, with the aim of presenting the most relevant ones linked to successful projects with respect to housing solutions for Roma people, with positive implications on the improvement of living conditions, on the integration of Roma in the neighbourhood, in their participation in political, civil and cultural life also through advocacy associations, highlighting the key factors that favor or hinder the active citizenship rights of Roma people and their social and civil involvement in the community. 

The project also aims to identify programs that also include other areas of integration since the vulnerability and poverty of Roma populations are reinforced by the complex interaction between disadvantaged and discriminatory situations in the fields of employment, education, access to health system and public services and can be positively influenced by both anti-discrimination and empowerment programmes.

In this page from the project website you can download the booklet in Italian.

• Visits to projects and institutions in the Paris region
• Visits to projects and institutions in the Budapest region
• Visits to projects and institutions in Transylvania
• Visits to projects and institutions in the Barcelona region
• Visits to projects and institutions in the Milan region
• Research on the housing conditions of Roma
• Booklet on good practices and recommendations on the housing conditions and empowerment of Roma
• Video
• Information meetings with people of the Roma ethnic group
• Seminars with university students, social workers and volunteers
• Transnational conference in Milan
• Final event in Paris
• Final event in Budapest
• Final event in Târgu Mureș
• Final event in Barcelona
• Press releases
• Articles and publications

• Caritas Ambrosiana Foundation (leader), Italy  
• University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy 
• City of Milan, Italy 
• Tarki Tarsadalomkutatasi Intezet Zrt, Hungary 
• Autonomy Alapitvany, Hungary 
• Caritas Association - Social Worker Filiala Organizatiei Caritas Alba Iulia, Romania 
• Fondation Nationale Des Sciences Politiques, France
• Federacion De Asociaciones Gitanas De Cataluna, Spain