Abstract

Poverty, according to the historically constituted idea, but also according to the collective imagination, has always been linked to the economic and income dimension. In recent years, however, through the contribution of Sen (2000) and Nussbaum (2002), the idea has grown stronger that in addition to economic capital, capital understood as the set of tools, skills, abilities, possibilities, opportunities, and strategies that the individual can implement or possess with respect to the usability and access to resources and services present in the area. Starting from these premises, the theoretical reflection on the practices of the "Casa Comune" proximity center of Lecce, a service closely anchored to the territory, which has become a point of reference for homeless people and with serious problems of social exclusion.