Housing Policies in Italy

The most important change that took place since the 70s was the dispersal of growth, which no longer concentrated in major urban areas, but affected mainly cities in the Centre and North Eastern regions which had not been previously interested by economic development. In the meanwhile a new demography emerged, particularly in the North. Overall population growth is now low and falling. But new pressures are becoming apparent. The elderly (more than half living alone) now comprise 16 per cent of the population and this is set to rise to 20 per cent a decade ahead. Immigration from East Europe and North Africa of low income households has grown sharply. There are signs that the traditional pattern of large families (with relatively small amounts of space per capita) is beginning to change; single households (most of them old retired people) have overcome the rate of 20 per cent, especially in urban areas such as Milan (32 per cent) or Rome (nearby 40 per cent in the central districts). As for the social concern of housing policies, problems of poverty and exclusion have mixed up with a widespread problem of affordability, especially in urban areas. Later estimation of housing needs stressed that poverty, on the one hand, and housing stress, on the other, are not coincident factors, but combine in producing a new demand. A minimum estimated of 900 thousands families in housing stress (5 per cent of the total), which can be extended to a twice as maximum, were expected in this situation five years ago (Tosi 1994b). Housing problems concentrate in major urban areas, especially in a few high-rise estates. Moreover, housing stress is articulated according to different geo-economic areas, being particularly extended in southern big cities. Finally, new processes of exclusion from housing interfere with the former more traditional factors, creating a reduced core of people in “extreme need”.