[HPN] Rome's homeless dying outdoors after Holy Year "clean-up" FWD

[Tom Boland]

http://newsfinder.arinet.com/fpweb/fp.dll/$stargeneral/htm/x_dv.htm/_ibyx/cg0302
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FWD  Associated Press - AP Wire Service - Jan 27, 2000 02:17

     ROME'S HOMELESS SEEKING SHELTER AFTER HOLY YEAR CLEAN-UP

     By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
     Associated Press Writer

ROME (AP) _ Stung by nine homeless deaths since the start of the
year, the city and its churches are rushing to find shelter for
those who have been left out in the cold.

For months, officials worked to get Rome ready for the opening
of the Holy Year, the Roman Catholic Church's celebration of
Christianity's third millennium.

But some say the beautification efforts shut off homeless haunts
_ particularly the Termini, Rome's central train station _ and
forced people out in the cold.

``It is the worst death rate of at least the last 10 years,''
said Mario Marazitti of the Sant'Egidio community, one of the
Catholic groups working to round up aid. ``The homeless are having
more difficulty in finding shelter.''

On Wednesday, church workers held services for the best-known
among the Rome street people to die _ Heidi, a Swiss woman found
frozen to death a few blocks from St. Peter's.

The latest of the nine victims was found toward the beaches
outside Rome over the weekend. In Turin, police found the frozen
body of a homeless person in a garden Wednesday.

Italy has what some aid organizations estimate as 220,000
homeless, normally protected from the extremes of winter in the
balmy center and south.

But an unusually sharp cold spell this week brought temperatures
below freezing in Rome and well below freezing in the north.

The government said it will free dlrs 15 million in emergency
funds for homeless in Rome and eight other cities.

Meanwhile, Rome leaders outlined an emergency cold plan this
week that puts new squads on the streets in the early morning to
search for people trying to sleep out in the cold.

The city and church groups are offering dozens of new beds, and
the city also has started keeping some subway stations open
overnight.

The stations replace shelter lost when police started chasing
street people, prostitutes and drug addicts out of the tunnels and
environs of the long-dilapidated central train station.

Authorities inaugurate the restored, fascist-era train station
on Friday. The reopening comes in time for the anticipated millions
of Italian and foreign visitors for the Holy Year.

The Holy Year is bringing more homeless to Rome as well, perhaps
thinking the religious celebrations will make the city an easier
place to find aid, said Monica Scifoni, spokeswoman for the city
council's homeless agency.

The city has been planning for what had been the anticipated
surge in homeless for two years, Scifoni said.

Shelter squads are finding that about half the street people
forced away from the Termini or found huddled elsewhere refuse to
move into shelters, Scifoni said. They accept the sleeping bags,
blankets and warm food that the squads offer, she said.

AP-CS-01-27-00 0318EST
Received  Id AP1000275686D1A6 on Jan 27 2000 02:18

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