Housing exclusion – i.e. the lack of access to decent housing – has always represented one of the most extreme manifestations of poverty.
Faced with the need to find a solution to tackle social-housing fragility for millions of new and old poor (the homeless increased by 20 per cent in Greece between 2009 and today), many European governments are timidly returning to the so-called social housing plans, abandoned in the 1980s in most EU countries.
Housing and services at affordable price for those who have no access to the real estate market. Social housing schemes are meant to improve the living conditions of the poorest groups of the population, as well as to develop a social context where everyone can have access to better, more significant human relations. In Ireland, the demand for this type of facilities has risen by 60 per cent since 2008. In France, 131,509 social housing units were built in 2010 only.
Italy has not been left behind – although only 4 per cent of national heritage fall within social housing. ‘Cenni di cambiamento’ is the name of the biggest social housing project in Europe that has been launched in Milan recently. It includes a total of 123 Class A apartments in four 9-storey buildings. In addition to apartments – rented for limited periods or assigned at reduced prices with future purchase agreements -, horticulture, leisure and cultural spaces will also be created.
At the same time, a training ‘path’ for future tenants has started. The aim is a good management of shared spaces and the identification of parallel services to be developed (e.g. after-school centres for children and car-sharing schemes).
This experiment will be replicated soon in other Italian areas, and keeps developing across Europe. Which proves that, even if the situation is critical, solutions can be identified also – and above all – by counting on shared strategies that involve citizens first.