dspread the protest on the expensive rentals for college students who, from Milan to Rome, cannot find an averagely acceptable accommodation at an equally acceptable price. The protests put in place by the students who have been sleeping in a tent in front of the Faculties for days have stirred something up.
Students in tents: the Government responds
In fact, it arrives the “sweet” of the Government which released 600 million euros to stem the chronic need for beds.
«The Ministry of University and Research is now ready to publish the expression of interest. This will be addressed to public bodies that have disused properties that could become student residences» declared the Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini.
Ilaria Lamera student of the Polytechnic in a tent in Piazza Leonardo to protest against high rents (ANSA/MATTEO CORNER)
The protest is rampant
It all started with Ilaria Lamera, the student from Bergamo who had edited a few weeks ago his tent in front of the Milan Polytechnic as a provocation, but not much, against the lack of housing at decent prices.
The idea made noise and was taken up by many other peers who with their tents settled in front of the Wisdom of Romebut also to Bologna, Florence, Cagliari and other cities.
Explaining from social media that «sleeping in a tent has now become the only economically accessible choice for many of us».
And asking for “structural responses to the current emergency, a real investment in the right to study and a reduction in rents on a national scale”.
Students in tents, the housing problem is a reality
Also because the problem really exists: the National Student Council, in its latest report, spoke of 764,146 non-residents, compared to 36,478 lodgings, a coverage of just 4.77%. And according to an estimate by the University Union, “one out of two students declared eligible” does not benefit from accommodation.
How to find beds
And here is the intervention of the Government. From the moment of publication of the expression of interest, Municipalities, Metropolitan Cities, Regions and all other entities will be able to present within 60 days the files of barracks, palaces, convents that could be reconverted. After which the ministry will publish a call for tenders for companies applying to renovate and then manage those properties.
The choice will fall on who in his proposal allocates as many beds as possible to students. Once the proposals have been chosen, the works can begin. This should be completed within three years.
“Study instead of camping”
But if most of the politicians have shown solidarity with the students’ requests, there are also those who point the finger. “If instead of spending their days camping in tents outside the university, sure pseudo students spend their time studying, they could build a better future for themselves as do thousands of young people (many commuters) who attend university with sacrifice”. To write it on Twitter is Francesco Giubilei, 31 years old, adviser to the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano and president of the Tatarella Foundation. Whose accommodation, when he was a student, however, was paid for by his parents “because it is their duty”, as he himself said in this interview with Il Giornale.
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