Speaker
Description
In Italy, and in Lombardy in particular, an interesting third housing sector has been developing for about 25 years. Born as a reaction to the dramatic lack of rental housing, promoted by entities such as the Milanese Church (Fondazione San Carlo), Fondazione Cariplo, the most important Italian bank foundation (Fondazione Housing Sociale), by the cooperative movement (DAR Casa) it has made a limited but significant contribution. Significant because it has managed to mobilize new resources for the implementation of social housing interventions (from donations to “patient” financial capital, to solidarity funds). Also significant because it has always expanded the notion of housing that consists not only of the availability of housing but the development of a range of related services that have characterized the social management of interventions.
The emergence of these experiences has been criticized for being intentionally misinterpreted at a certain stage by public policy as an opportunity for disinvestment in public social housing.
Today, faced with the housing emergency affecting many large cities, the third housing sector can find itself playing even more complex and interesting roles as
- the actor capable of managing the assets that public facilities are unable to reallocate because they need to be renovated
- a supply of subsidized rent that allows the exit from the public stock of families who no longer need to occupy public housing
- a wealth of experience in social management of interventions that can also be extended to the public estate
- the ability to tap private resources at a time when businesses themselves realize the need to take care of social housing, the main bottleneck for staff recruitment.
The paper discusses the possibilities of moving out of an experimental phase by aiming for greater integration among housing policy actors from the perspective of an in-depth look at the third housing sector activities.
References
Tosi, A., (2016), Le case dei poveri, Mimesi
| Keywords | Third housing sector, housing emergency, rental housing, public policy |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
