Studentification ‘from the south’. Informality, familism, rent extraction in Milan

There is growing attention on off-site university students’ housing conditions in Southern Europe (Malet-Calvo 2018; Cenere et al. 2023; Zasina et al. 2023). Notwithstanding the relevance of PBSAs in the current debate and practice, most off-site students find accommodation in the private-rental market. This market relies on small landlords, who often deal with inherited dwellings that are part of the intergenerational reproduction of wealth. At the same time, this type of accommodation is highly informal and selective. Informality refers to tenures (contracts are often not registered or improper, to elude income taxation), to arrangements between students and their landlords (concerning repairs, condominium fees, etc.), and to access (this market segment is often based on word of mouth). At the same time, it is also highly selective: the word-of-mouth mechanism tends to exclude newcomers, people lacking pre-existing migratory networks in town, and those who have a lower proficiency in the cultural codes of informality), which leads to higher risks of racial profiling and discrimination and poses heavy risks for those needing a regular tenure. Using a set of mixed-methods results, this study aims to shed light on the market dynamics affecting students’ housing pathways in Milan, showing how this can be embedded in localized strategies for rent extraction that profit from the traditional informality and familism of the Italian housing system (Allen et al. 2004).