“I tell you how the Rays and the M5S have paralyzed housing policies”

The Department of Heritage and Housing Policies in the face of the wave of requests for contributions to rent due to the Coronavirus emergency “was left alone.” Valeria Minniti, former director of the Capitolino department, is convinced of this. She told Romatoday about the “series of problems” that on July 14 led her to resign from her post before the three years initially foreseen. The former executive of the Ministry of Labor, summoned to that position by Mayor Raggi, replaced former director Aldo Barletta in September 2019. Among the reasons that prompted her to leave her position prematurely is the chronic shortage of personnel aggravated upstream by Giunta Raggi decision to merge the Heritage department with the Housing Policy department where, among others, they operate. the offices in charge of implementing the delicate support measures for families in housing difficulties.

“There are no conditions to ensure the proper functioning of the offices,” Minniti wrote on June 12, 2020 in one of numerous communications requesting additional staff, in this case addressed to the director of the Human Resources department, the Mayor’s Office and the competent councilor, Valentina Vivarelli. We are in the months after the quarantine when the department’s offices, already struggling to process the 14 thousand requests received for the 2019 rental contribution, were literally invaded by the almost 50 thousand requests for the 2020 emergency rental bond. money was paid quickly and instead the department was left alone, ”Minniti told Romatoday. “On April 30, three days after the publication of the Roma Capitale call, I asked to temporarily have 50 additional units because I had estimated that some 60 thousand applications would arrive. And that’s what happened, ”he says.

The department alarm: “No staff, we are in trouble”

“On May 6, the Human Resources department signed the determination for the acquisition of these 50 units but on June 12 (the day of the aforementioned note, ed) no one had yet arrived. Five or six people were sent by Civil Protection while the appeal procedure (internal appeal to administration officials on a voluntary basis, ed) 4 arrived at the end of June and another 4 at the end of July when the staff had already organized to Holidays. Even the request of some officials who said they were available for the temporary transfer was rejected. “Minniti also discusses this in numerous notes.” The only thing I have been able to do is take a score of internal resources from the department and have them work overtime. I know that just a few days ago eleven more units arrived ”, after the hearing at the Capitoline Transparency Commission of Stefano Donati, director of the Department of Housing Policies and, after the resignation of Minniti, interim director of the entire department. learned that as of mid-September less than a third of applications had been processed, more than 55 percent of which were excluded, and that less than three percent had been granted.

“With a note of April 14, I asked Vivarelli for a series of measures, from the staff to the involvement of the unions in the compilation of documentation, through a certified email that would automatically register the requests. They didn’t give me any of this. ” Minniti also recorded a difference of views with Donati on the payment of the 2020 rental bond. In a July 1, 2020 directive to Donati, Minniti reiterated the fact that a self-certification was sufficient and that the re-launch decree launched by The Conte government, given the exceptional nature of the situation, provided for random checks after the liquidation. “I just had to verify that all the data was completed. The verifications had to be done later and, in case of discrepancy, the judicial authority would have to intervene. It was an emergency and we had to pay that money immediately because we could not follow the procedures for contributions from previous years. Instead, unlike my directives, it was decided to proceed with the verifications first. “

Staff shortages had been reported long before the coronavirus emergency. For example, we cite a note dated January 31, 2020 addressed to the Human Resources department, the Mayor’s cabinet, and a number of councilors, including Vivarelli. “Of the officers who have arrived since September 30, 4, two have already arrived with a command resolution, which generates more inconveniences by having to enter them for a few days; even the last one, due to a motivated request with the program and activities in progress (increased day by day), was received to replace another assigned for some time whose inauguration was postponed until it was replaced by one close to retirement. “

One of the problems related to Minniti’s “serious” staff shortage is also found in the new macrostructure of the Capitolina machine approved in 2017 by Giunta Raggi, which merged the Heritage department with the Housing Policy department. “All the activity has moved to Piazza Giovanni da Verrazzano and an unmanageable situation has arisen. There was only one counter and we didn’t even have staff to keep it open. It was an absurd situation and many times the intervention of the police was necessary, ”he says. “Therefore, one of the first requests was to be able to carry out works in some rooms of the building to obtain more branches. These, however, are not yet finished ”. Conditions of reception of users to the limit, so much so that already in the note of January 31, 2020 Minniti wrote: “The situation is so serious and unmanageable that a tragic event cannot be ruled out.”

It is not just a matter of space. “The Five Star administration, in addition to having merged two departments, has been adding more and more powers: in addition to Property and Housing Policies, what was left of the Suburbs office, also suppressed, has been recovered. The quality green points, which previously belonged to the Environment, and finally the social housing have also ended up in this department. Unmanageable “.

Pay the consequences is the user. Also in the communication signed by Minniti on June 12 on the subject of a “hiring of staff” request, which follows other similar communications, we read: “Recent assignments are insufficient for the continuation of ordinary activities and for planning planned with special reference to the new agreement / framework on maintenance (of public housing owned by the Municipality, ed), procedures related to the rental contribution Call 2020, procedures for the sale of real estate for institutional purposes, procedures for assigning Erp housing and housing emergencies ” .

Another reason that led the former executive to leave his post within the pentastellata administration has to do with “the difficulties in implementing the transfer plan to reduce rental liabilities,” says Minniti. Removals and movements of offices rented to the property of Roma Capitale, estimates Minniti in an Operational Plan put in black and white on February 6, 2020, would have allowed a saving of 4 million euros. In your hands the numerous reminders sent throughout the months to the corresponding departments. These properties also include the former offices of the Housing Policy department of Viale Pasteur all’Eur. “Those premises have been empty for about a year. The only thing missing is the transfer of the furniture that was left inside the premises and in the meantime Roma Capitale continues to pay the rent. The relocation of the headquarters of the municipal groups in via del Tritone, which should have been effective as of January 7, 2020, has also been subject to continuous delays due to the resistance of the departments that should have hosted them and the inability of the Five star leaders impose a political decision based on savings. The project developed together with Risorse per Roma for the transfer to the premises in via Petroselli was already ready ”.

The last extension of the rental of the headquarters in via del Tritone dates back to June 19, 2020 when the general director Franco Giampaoletti wrote to the company that owns the property, Prelios sgr, communicating that “I expected planning difficulties for the definition of all Necessary operations found due to the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, “the release will take place” no later than December 31, 2020. “The last note with which the former Minniti executive attempts to organize the transfers and transfers dates July 7, 2020. A week later he will resign.