Homelessness in Italy: old private stories and new public opportunities

Homeless people in Italy can easily get food and, in almost all the big Italian cities, will be able to access a night shelter. Service provision is usually based on common emergency accommodation provided by public and/or private organizations and therefore focused on basic, essential, and material needs. In big cities, additional services are available, including outreach support, help centres, legal assistance, human rights protection, and health and psychological support. In the last years, Housing First services have been actively promoted in many regions of Italy and are increasingly getting more political and social support. Unfortunately, this is not the case evenly all over the national territory, as local services for the homeless are provided by regional and local authorities and are highly differentiated according to available resources and the social policies of local administration. In Italy, there still are no basic levels of assistance nationally granted, but the latest national plans against poverty, combined with the EU Next Generation Plan and the National Resilience Plan, are moving towards the introduction of local social services also for homeless people. This chapter considers the state of homelessness in Italy and is organized as follows: after exploring the definition and the main features of homelessness in Italy, it describes the most relevant aspects of the legal and political framework set in the specific Italian national context. The chapter then moves to examine examples of homelessness preventative practice in Italy. The final section is devoted to offering reflections on the future of homelessness law and policy in Italy.