A new tent city is hosting 280 migrants in the countryside near the southern Italian city of Foggia, where a fire destroyed 200 shacks in a migrant tent city last December.
The prefect of Foggia in the region of Puglia in southern Italy, Raffaele Grassi, announced on January 30 that a new tent city is hosting 280 migrants who used to live in shacks near the city of Foggia.
The new tent city is located in a rural area between San Severo and Rignano Garganico.
On December 3 of last year, a fire destroyed about 200 shacks in a shantytown in the region. They had been housing an estimated 400 migrants.
Objective is to eliminate illegal housing
The prefect spoke about the new structure during a meeting with local officials to discuss housing and integration policies for foreign citizens.
"I summoned 61 mayors from the Capitanata (regional district) and the Puglia region to discuss possible solutions to guarantee a more dignified life to migrants present in the Capitanata and to improve conditions in the area," said the prefect. The objective is to progressively eliminate makeshift camps in the province of Foggia, he said.
'The time has come to find solutions'
Asked by reporters whether all shantytowns currently housing migrants in the area of Foggia will be dismantled by the end of 2020, the prefect said: "I am currently not in a position to say that but it is certainly an important moment to find a common solution by offering migrants alternatives to ghettos."
Among the alternatives the prefect cited "housing modules, the reallocation in depopulated villages, the creation of lodgings which we are already building with the region."