The Right to Shelter, as reflected in the Charter of Palermo, affirms that access to safe and dignified housing is essential to the realization of fundamental rights and social inclusion. The Charter calls on institutions to ensure equitable housing access for all residents, regardless of immigration status, while rejecting policies that produce marginalization, exclusion, or “wars among the poor.” 

Civil society organizations and city government in Palermo do important work to support migrants’ right to shelter. The Catholic order formerly led by monk Biago Conte runs two shelters for people without housing; and numerous anti-mafia and other social cooperatives operate housing for asylum seekers. The municipality of Palermo’s House of Rights oversees asylum seeker housing (welcome centers) in the city, ensuring a higher level of accountability and decent accommodations in the city, particularly compared to the Sicilian countryside, where asylum seekers have suffered in abusive and inadequate welcome centers run by organized crime and other corrupt operators. 

Some participants in the photo-voice interviews for this research noted their satisfaction with their housing situations, especially in the Filipino community, whose members typically rent apartments in the working-class Borgo Vecchio neighborhood. But other participants, especially from Black and Muslim communities, reported growing challenges finding housing to rent in the gentrifying historic city center of Palermo, as landlords increasingly rent to tourists and digital nomads. Some also shared experiences of landlord abuse and racial discrimination in the rental market, as discussed on the summary findings page of this website.