Milan's centre-left city council is spending millions of euros and has formed a taskforce to fight hardship by focusing on the weakest sections of the population: the unemployed, minors, outcasts, old people and families that are struggling. The city council's social inclusion policy centres on individuals and their right to a second chance in life - an approach embodied by the 'Support Milan' project from 7-14 October that kicked off with a party at the Casa Jannacci shelter.
To attain this objective, the council organised debates and encounters featuring speakers from several Italian and European cities, and alliances between institutions and the tertiary sector. The final goal: achieving a concrete way of sustaining the needy and of preventing poverty. An example is the decision to allocate 50 houses to rough sleepers and to make 7,000 beds available to homeless people and migrants. Within this framework, the Fondazione Cariplo, Caritas Ambrosiana, Opera San Francesco, Banco Alimentare e Farmaceutico, Casa della Carità and Fondazione Pellegrini charities all renewed commitments to work with the council on new projects.
Ernesto Pellegrini, former chairman of Inter, is sponsoring an accommodation network for needy families. And over 6,000 citizens have made a contribution to renovating the Opera di San Francesco soup kitchen in Piazzale Velasquez. In its 2017 budget, City Hall allocated 38.5 million euros for income support - the most of any Italian city.
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