Housing in Italy: past, present and future challenges

Exploring the field of housing policy in Italy is an exercise that requires a broad knowledge of the past and some critical reflection on contemporary issues. The response to a significant demand for public housing has challenged national policies for many decades after the Second World War. On the contrary, the decentralisation of central powers in the 1980s and the withdrawal of the state from the financing of housing programmes have left a gap in national policies and the proliferation of mixed interventions based on private and public synergies. Today's problems stem from a more articulated scenario that must take into account the increasing diversity of needs due to a more complex and fluctuating society, an ageing country, growing multiculturalism with higher mobility standards, and a mounting polarisation between rich and poor populations, especially in metropolitan areas. Today, it is increasingly important to rethink housing as a public, collective and social right and to promote urban and environmental policies that propose safe, accessible and economically viable housing solutions adapted to the diversity of social, urban and territorial contexts.