Four homeless people dead in Rome since January, Diodati (Red Cross): "The poor are growing"

Since the beginning of the year, around four homeless people have died on the streets in the capital. A worrying fact, especially as we are going through the coldest period of the year. The latest victim was found on Saturday morning inside the car where she was sleeping in Largo Micara, in the Cavalleggeri area. The man had no documents and was using the car as a refuge. From the first investigations carried out by the police, no traces of violence were found, which is why it is not excluded that the man died of hypothermia. And just a week earlier, the Nonna Roma association had reported the death of three homeless people "who in the last ten days have lost their lives in our city due to the cold". According to the president of the Red Cross in Rome, Deborah Diodati, consulted by "Agenzia Nova", "unfortunately the number of homeless people who lose their lives in the cold period is more or less in line with last year, but even if aid has increased, there are more and more people On the road".

The measures adopted by the Municipality of Rome precisely in support of homeless people during the winter have been outlined in the so-called cold plan, which plans to obtain about a thousand more beds by 2026, about 200 a year. As for the Red Cross, among the initiatives put in place, “last Saturday, we opened a structure in agreement with the Municipality of Rome to be able to accommodate 50 people. This structure is open 24 hours, so the people welcomed are not obliged to leave and return later,” explains Diodati. “From the first day – specifies the president of Cri Roma – we immediately went to full capacity, with a prevalence of men. In the coming days, always in agreement with the Municipality of Rome, and in anticipation of bad weather and low temperatures, we will most likely be able to activate another reception facility. Furthermore, in the last period we have strengthened the street units, which go out every day, bringing blankets and hot drinks. What we try to do as Cri, thanks also to our capillarity, is to reach even the most isolated areas, because that's where these people lose their lives. We are also present in the main stations of Rome, Termini and Ostiense and Tiburtina, but we try to be everywhere”.

“The Municipality has also increased the number of beds available, reaching around 2500 people welcomed”, Diodati continues. “However – specifies the president of Cri Roma – in the capital there are about 10 people who live in these conditions. We are dealing with a very complex phenomenon. It is difficult to be able to guarantee hospitalization for all the people who live on the street, where the numbers are growing". More and more people find themselves living on the streets and more and more new forms of poverty. “We have seen it as Cri due to the number of parcels distributed to families. In that case there is no need for hospitalization, but they are no longer able to guarantee themselves food to face the day. There is therefore a problem of poverty, but it is also true that those who fail to solve it risk ending up on the street – observes she-she. And it is on these people that we need to intensify the intervention, because activating a path of inclusion and support can be effective if the person has been on the street for less time, compared to someone who has been homeless for 10 years or more". According to Diodati “this first intervention could be much more effective. We need to start from a structure, to avoid people living on the street. But I realize that although the reception facilities and the number of beds have increased, the homeless are many and growing”, concludes Diodati.

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