Taking care of the unaccompanied foreign minors starting from the housing

Abstract

In Italy the subject of the rights of unaccompanied foreign minors (UAMs) is not an easy one. UAMs are increasingly becoming “victims of collateral damage” due to the risks of urban marginalization (Bauman 2011). Collateral damage is the result, on the one hand, of inequality and, on the other, of an increase in human suffering. Although discomfort and suffering are connected to the individual, they relate to place, and thus individual fragility becomes an expression of urban fragility. The condition of social fragility is, therefore, dictated by a combination of a series of elements that are not related only to housing, but also to the absence of basic resources that might ensure decent material conditions of life (Townsend, 1979). It is of primary importance to trigger considerations and interventions that may promote effective policies aimed at accompanying people at the risk of extreme marginality, starting from individual projects and taking overall charge of the individual. Stability of accommodation is, sure, one of the conditions for guiding people towards self-sufficiency and the response should be geared towards the planning of case management (i.e. taking charge of the person) and the adoption of housing-led and housing-first approaches, based on the principle of swift rehousing, i.e.: housing first, as a basic human right. The paper will focus on analysis of experiences of HF as a possible strategy to reduce the risk of social marginality, e.g. for unaccompanied foreign minors who have become newly legal adults and consequently are leaving the reception system in Italy.