Impact of Milan’s Cellar Evictions
In the United States, we commonly associate a term, “progress,” with the notion that there are beneficial goals to pursue. These goals include increased incomes, higher standards of living, greater security, and better health.
However, the idea that progress is a good thing often comes at a cost to its citizens. John Bodley shows that, in the case of indigenous peoples around the world, the price of progress may be more than just money and comfort: it could also include the loss of traditional ways of life, political sovereignty, land, and health.
The term “progress” is not only misleading but it’s dangerous. In a world that is rapidly changing, it’s important to be aware of the consequences of our actions.
The Price of Progress: The Impact of Milan’s Cellar Evictions on Its Residents
This is especially true when it comes to the housing situation in our country. As we have all witnessed in the past several years, there is a significant crisis in the affordable housing market. It is estimated that more than a quarter of renters are severely cost burdened, meaning they spend more than half their income on rent.
As a result, the affordability crisis is causing more and more evictions. This has a negative effect on the overall rental market, as it makes it more difficult for families to find homes that are affordable.
It is therefore essential that governments and philanthropic organizations work to help families in crisis avoid evictions by providing them with affordable housing. This can be done through a variety of strategies, including regulating the rental market, increasing rent subsidies, pairing land-use reforms with increases in rent subsidy, and addressing issues such as homelessness, landlord-tenant discrimination, and predatory lending practices.
One such approach is to focus on the marginalized neighborhoods and squatting sites in a city. By doing so, these areas will be able to gain the attention of policy makers and become more visible to the public.
In this sense, these squatting sites have the potential to be a privileged space of observation for the ethnographic study of urban processes. They are located at the edge of cities and offer an opportunity to observe everyday life in an atypical setting.
These spaces are characterized by their proximity to the social margins, which is also the main reason why they are frequently used as a site of squatting and illegal residential occupations. Nevertheless, they remain a place of struggle and insecurity for those who live there.
The inhabitants of these squatting sites, who are mostly young people, try to maintain their relationships with other neighbors by using local language and the symbolic boundaries of the buildings. This strategy is also used to express their dissatisfaction with the housing and the living conditions they are facing.
The inhabitants of these squatting sites often face a constant state of uncertainty, as they are often not sure where they will be able to live for the next few months or even years. This uncertainty is created by the high level of unemployment, low-paying jobs and unstable economic conditions. Moreover, the tenants are constantly being harassed by the police and the municipality’s administration to make them pay more or lose their houses. This process, which is not always successful, leads to more and more evictions in Milan’s outskirts.
