Italy is considering using real estate seized by the mafia to house incoming Ukrainian refugees, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said on Monday. The agency managing the confiscated mafia assets has already begun to select properties that “can be used in the short term, even temporarily, to house refugees from Ukraine,” Lamorgese said in a short statement. The authorities will also check the condition of real estate, the ownership of which has passed to cities and municipalities, but which are not yet used, the minister added.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine – on February 24 – about 17,286 Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have entered Italian territory, the Italian Interior Ministry said. Most Ukrainian refugees have so far been housed with relatives or friends, but private and public initiatives have emerged across the country, preparing for a much larger wave of war refugees from Ukraine. “Hundreds of thousands of refugees will come and we must handle this task,” Democratic Party chief Enrico Letta said on Monday, calling on the government to set up structures to receive the people. He also reminded that Italy should also prepare for the reception of people fleeing Russia – “a country that is increasingly turning into a large prison”.