Comitato Abitanti San Siro: fighting a relentless battle

They meet every Tuesday at 10 p.m. in the Piazza Selinunte. Although not all of them live in San Siro, they have all chosen to spend most of their time here. As part of the self-managed social center Cantiere, they have joined together to create the Comitato Abitanti San Siro (San Siro Residents’ Association). ‘Stop Evictions’ is their slogan, solidarity is their motto. They are in favour of squatting and a hard-line approach. And not everyone likes them.

Ideas to improve life in the neighbourhood crop up at meetings held every Tuesday at their base on Via Micene: “We want to promote interaction and socialisation between inhabitants,” says Rossella, “and all our initiatives work towards this goal.” The flea market, which was set up a few years ago, has since become a well established tradition. One of the markets is permanent and is based in Piazza Stuparich; the second is a travelling market, but invariably sets up its stalls within the San Siro neighbourhood. The market is a good example of mutual aid. No money circulates here. Instead, unused objects are exchanged that might make someone else happy, rather than being allowed to accumulate dust on the shelves of a storeroom. 8-year-old Ahmed has found a colouring book at the market and is in seventh heaven: children are happy with the simplest of things. Even the grown-ups seem satisfied with the quality of the items, as they browse through second-hand clothes hung on a ground-floor railing.

As parents wander from one market stall to the next, children entertain themselves on the small football pitch in Piazza Selinunte, just behind the tower that once pumped water to the houses. Football has always been one of the few ways to have fun, even before the Association appeared on the scene. “Games for children have always been a strong point of our programme,” continues Rossella. “Many families that live in San Siro don’t have the money to sign their kids up for sports activities. We don’t want the street to become the only other alternative for them.” Just a few metres away, a little girl, six years of age, is punching Agnese’s boxing gloves, who is happy to be used as a target and to teach her some boxing moves. Meanwhile, Agnese’s colleague explains to the children gathered around in a circle how to keep a guard and to turn their torso side-on to be able to sock a better punch. A couple of times a month, Association members organise leisure activities on the neighbourhood streets, from improvised boxing lessons to the chaotic game known as ‘prisonball’, as well as inexpensive gyms and physical education lessons which are made available to those who cannot afford a personal trainer. The Association is also focused on environmental concerns, as the green areas of this Milanese neighbourhood have gradually been covered in concrete. Last year, this group of city-dwellers encouraged tree planting in designated areas, on San Siro’s streets and in squares. To promote integration, ‘world cuisine’ lunches and dinners have been organised, where families from Egypt or Morocco prepare typical dishes for other residents to try.

With a hint of pride, Rossella also describes the Association festival: three days in mid-July filled with music, dancing and cultural initiatives. “We even got tenors from the Scala to come and sing in the square; people in the neighbourhood would probably never have had chance to see them perform at the theatre. Not to mention the meetings and debates on the housing situation, which prove to be extremely popular every year.” There is also a similar festival held in mid-March: the Spring Festival, which combines all the activities run by members of the Association, condensed into one afternoon on 21 March in the Piazza Selinunte. “It is wonderful to discover the mechanisms of the different roles of inhabitants and to watch the solidarity that emerges between people that live here. Having a place to meet forms the foundations on which to build a neighbourhood with a united and anti-racist attitude. This is especially important in a place where the social fabric could unravel at any moment, and institutions would do nothing to stop it.”

“According to December’s figures, the total number of vacant properties in Milan stands at ten thousand. If we include private properties into this figure, the total increases to eighty thousand.” Paola and Rossella from the San Siro Association break down Milan’s “housing problem” into numbers. This is essentially a story of wastage, especially considering the jam-packed housing list of people waiting to be assigned a council house. Available properties are increasingly few and far between compared to the number of housing applications. Members of the Association, which is managed by the ‘Cantiere’ community centre, hold Aler (Milan’s housing association) responsible for the status quo

Aler’s strategy to tackle the issue of housing does not convince the San Siro Residents’ Association. “At the moment, Aler are looking to turn a profit from the situation as it stands,” says Paola, rather than attempting to solve the chronic problem of public housing assignment: Aler aims “to sell” from the public stock to the private market. Given the more than two million euros of deficit in the association’s public housing budget, the option of selling it off has come to light as a result of the overcrowded waiting lists. But Rossella makes certain to remind people of the recent picture that was painted of the public housing association by the regional survey commission, and points a finger at its naivety. When discussing the debt that the association has accumulated, what should be highlighted is the series of “financial operations that have not been successful, rather than the inability or the responsibility of residents.” As far as the Piazza Selinunte group is concerned, a system of privileges against the growing poverty of this working-class neighbourhood is not acceptable. “Inhabitants should not be the ones to pay the price for the housing famine,” especially as there are nine thousand “boarded up and heated” properties under Aler’s management. “These properties are not assigned, even though they are fit for habitation,” Paola explains.

“A much bigger project lies beyond Aler’s short-sighted view of the situation,” Rossella suspects. As a neighbourhood, San Siro is now on the verge of being incorporated into the city centre: “The area is flanked by two metro lines, two residential neighbourhoods on both sides and the stadium.” These may be clear signs of centrification. The final urban ‘design’ would be one that encouraged poorer residents to move further towards the outskirts of the city. The Residents’ Association argues in favour of public housing, of a regularisation of the housing assignment system and of a revaluation of the working-class neighbourhood. In addition, the group is against the desire to monetise now-abandoned square metres. The Piazza Selinunte group has put forward proposals to Milan City Hall: regularisation and assignment are on stand-by.

“The majority of squatters want to pay, they don’t want to live with eviction constantly looming over them,” Rossella points out. A suitable solution to this would be to allow requests for regularisation to be made through a committee that examines each case individually. Residents would pay a fixed amount of rent tailored to their financial situation. However, “we haven’t heard anything on this front since 2012, even when fifty euros per family would constitute a substantial income, as there are five thousand families squatting in Milan, and less than 500 in San Siro that pay rent.” Rossella maintains that regularisation is indeed possible given that there are already people that pay the housing benefit bill that Aler issues to every sitting tenant, which amounts to 700 euros per month. Turning the subsidised amount on this bill into rent would be one possible exit route for people to walk away from life as a squatter.

A second solution would be to assign houses in the state that they are in or with an option of self-development. For example, in a property deemed unfit for habitation, where there are fixtures and fittings that need redoing, after the tenant has been assigned the flat and the keys handed over, he or she can choose which firm to hire to do the work. But it is not just housing that can make a neighbourhood less inhabitable when in the grip of poverty. The situation is no rosier for retailers in Piazza Selinunte either. “Bars and shops in the area are closing: on Via Maratta and on Via Gigante, two shops out of ten have closed down.” Even those that have a business in the area are hounded by high rent. Rossella reveals that the tyre repairman on Via Gigante, in the vicinity of Piazza Selinunte where the Association is based, is now “loan sharked by Aler.” The housing occupation racket plays a similar role in this environment. It is common for individuals and organised groups to pay just to have the doors of a property opened to them. The Association’s stance is firmly against the racket and condemns it. However, the root of the problem remains exactly the same: all it would take to stop illicit activity would be to “assign more houses”, insists Rossella. The racket is the other side of the same coin. Paola explains that “there are many cases of people recurring to these methods,” and they put themselves at risk of being blackmailed into living a life of crime. The Association has therefore turned to the anti-Mafia association, Libera Contro le Mafie, in order to map out the territory against this phenomenon. For the moment, the Piazza Selinunte group prefers this route as opposed to going directly to the police.

Taking a stance against evictions is more than just words. The neighbourhood Association is armed and ready any time one of its members could end up on the street. The group is made up of individuals that are all experiencing housing-related difficulties, not necessarily illicit. Whether they be foreigners, new arrivals to the neighbourhood or families that are fighting for a roof over their heads, whoever decides to call on the Association for assistance is registered on a list and receives a membership card. But the “services” offered are not the conventional type. It all begins with a questionnaire, which serves as a way of understanding the various needs of these individuals who often do not know where to start and are in need of guidance. The next step is to go to the Association’s office, which is open to members every Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Here, members are informed of the necessary procedures to follow in order to gain access to social housing, to appeal against an enforceable eviction or to make an application for emergency housing. The Association’s support even extends as far as the courts, through a select group of lawyers who follow the cases of the neighbourhood’s inhabitants.

Assistance is always on hand thanks to an old Alcatel telephone that is passed around the neighbourhood. This telephone stands in place of a sort of freephone number to call in case of an emergency. In October and November, on eviction days, it never stops ringing. The Association takes action with help from the local cadre of the ASIA union, the association of tenants and residents: “By law, a representative from the union is authorised to assist in the execution of an eviction to make sure that everything is carried out pursuant to procedure,” says Manuel, member of the Association. Being part of ASIA is a good way of intervening in evictions and, with a bit of luck and chicanery, to gain more time. “We often ask a doctor to assist by providing a medical certificate stating that the person is not fit enough health-wise to go through an eviction. This delays enforcement by three months and allows the person to find alternative solutions during the time they have gained.”.

The most crucial thing is to prevent residents from being thrown out of their home. But even if this does happen, all is not lost: “More than once, tenants who have just been evicted have managed to reoccupy their home a few hours later, as soon as the police have left.” The Association defines this as “reappropriation”, whereby anyone who has been thrown of their home enters it again, quite literally, through the window. Prevention is always better than cure, even for members of the group. This is why, in warmer months, they have decided to organise breakfasts in the neighbourhood: a table set up on a street in San Siro where people can bring cakes, packets of biscuits or a pot of tea. This is one way to encourage social mingling and also to form a permanent stronghold on the street, ready to take action against evictions. “Evictions usually happen in the early hours of the morning as this reduces the chance of any problems of public order arising. But anyone who is ever met with a bailiff on their doorstop should never have to feel alone.” The policy adopted by Aler in these parts has not enjoyed much success, at least judging by the protests that the Association regularly organises and which usually draw in a good number of participants: North Africans, Latinos and many Italians of all ages. The housing problem in San Siro has no borders.

The “Comitato Abitanti” viewpoint is fuelled by an underlying ambiguity that divides the neighbourhood into two halves: those that are squatters and those that are not. The squatter component is the larger of the two. The Piazza Selinunte group receives criticism on the way this section operates, both from the rest of the neighbourhood and from other organisations.

This criticism mostly comes from the Neighbourhoods’ Committee, led by Lucia Guerri, who have taken a clear stance against squatting. A statement from the Piazza Selinunte group: “We don’t have any connections with the Tenants’ Committee as we simply don’t cross paths in the everyday running of things.” So why has this other organisation made war on the Piazza Selinunte group? Rossella explains that “tenants, namely those that are party to a regular contract with Aler, are more frustrated with the poor maintenance of properties and with the squatting phenomenon.” The work of the Selinunte Association focuses instead on “making the neighbourhood more habitable” and in strengthening its social fabric, to prevent war breaking out between the poor, in everybody’s interest. However, the way in which housing issues are currently being managed does not inspire the trust of other organisations that are working on the same front.

The view of Franca Caffa, head of the Tenants’ Committee in the Molise Calvairate neighbourhood, entirely opposes that of the Piazza Selinunte group. “As soon as we realise that one particular solution is not producing the desired results, we must have the humility to change it,” she says, with reference to events on the squatting front, both in the past and in the present. The Molise-Cavairate Committee firmly believes that “those that end up squatting in a property solve the problem for themselves, but there aren’t enough of these solutions to go around the whole community.” The Piazza Selinunte group does not accept Caffa’s criticism, as Paola explains, “80% of evictions are a result of “unguilty rent arrears”” For the Residents’ Association, this justifies their fight against the social landlord Aler, even if this means squatting, with the ultimate goal invariably being to achieve regularisation and legalisation for squatters. Despite the criticisms, members of the Piazza Selinunte Association will continue their work and fight their battle from under the Piazza Selinunte tower. They will continue to defend the territory they have already conquered, irrespective of good or evil.