RESIDENCE ROMA
2005
The Roma Residence is a group of buildings, located in Via di Bravetta 451, a 10-minute distance from the Vatican. Each building is composed by hundreds of bed-sitters. The owner is Massimo Mezzaroma, a big building contractor.
In agreement with the town council, the complex has been used to provide lodging assistance. Over the years, thousands of people have lived in these buildings. Some were accommodated under the municipality’s lodging assistance program , while others rented directly from the buildings constructor.
Back in 1983 the municipality was paying 4 millions lire per month for each of the bed-sitters occupied by those entitled to lodging assistance. From then on, the municipality continued to pay exorbitant amounts until approximately March 2006, when the Roma Residence was due to be shut down due to a change of usage destination and the consequent revaluation of the area.
Over the past 23 years, every time that a house was found for the Italian families that needed lodging assistance, the bed-sitter has often been rented to immigrants from various ethnic groups, frequently in coordination with their relevant embassies. These rentals where often at exorbitant prices and, as it can be imagined, never conducted openly.
For several years, the inefficiencies within the Roma Residence have reached extremely high levels, indecent not only for human beings but even for animals. The shocking levels of dirtiness make it a dump in open air, with the sewage discharging directly into former garage areas, rubbish everywhere, and several rat colonies. The buildings lack lifts, hot water, and sometimes even electricity. These terrible conditions are causing illness, especially among children and the elderly, while all residents face the threat of being evicted without any prior notice.
Residence Roma, its history with the private and public people related to it, is the highest symbol of the lodging deterioration and of the moral and institutional decay in Rome, a business on the shoulder of poor people and on the shoulders of each single taxpayer; and the story, unfortunately, seems destined to repeat itself.




















