For us, social housing provides an answer to emerging questions, by integrating people’s economic, social, relational and working needs and experimenting with replicable new models. We promote urban regeneration projects where housing is an opportunity to transform the local area according to social and environmental sustainability principles.
Our work is divided into various areas of intervention.
Under the umbrella of the People Goal, the Reinventing dwelling systems and regenerating neighbourhoods mission gives us the opportunity to address the interesting issue of social housing and urban regeneration. We do this on the strength of a strong track record: running the Housing Programme for 13 years has equipped us with the experience and skills needed to assess the feasibility of new interventions and extend existing ones in new directions.
Origins
The Housing Programme was launched in 2006 as an innovative response to the housing needs of people facing temporary social vulnerability, and reached its formal conclusion in December 2019, when it was absorbed into the projects established under the Reinventing dwelling systems and regenerating neighbourhoods mission. Since its inception, it has adhered to a multidisciplinary approach that has combined architectural and town planning input with social, economic and financial considerations.
Over this long period of time, the Housing Programme has trialled new models of social housing, which it has conceived, designed and managed. It has also provided support, inspiration and advice in relation to projects launched in the local area by public and third-sector bodies.
Over the course of this 13-year programme, FCSP has supported over 170 projects in Piedmont and Liguria and promoted anew culture of housing, thanks to a total investment of 33 million euros in grants and 30 million euros in capital resources.
Housing and local communities
Many of our past and current interventions amount to fully fledged urban regeneration programmes, involving the development of social infrastructures where housing is integrated with social, cultural, relational and employment factors to bring about sustainable transformation of local areas. Between 2020 and 2021 three new hospitality and social inclusion centres will come on-stream in Turin and Genoa.
The initiative also continues in the form of a mission-oriented investment, thanks to two property funds dedicated to social housing – FASP – Fondo Abitare Sostenibile Piemonte and FHSL – Fondo Housing Sociale Liguria – which have made it possible to complete projects such as Vivo Al Venti, Cascina Fossata and Orbassano 1, which let dwelling units on a rent-controlled basis to individuals and families with limited earning capacity.
Scattered-site social housing
The Reinventing dwelling systems and regenerating neighbourhoods mission also develops scattered-site social housing solutions, under an innovative approach that involves sourcing vacant third-sector property, foreclosures and dwelling units for sale by court auction. This type of work involves designing and road-testing ad hoc financial, management and social instruments.
Social housing practices and culture
Promoting social and collaborative housing initiatives has enabled us to respond to a wide range of housing needs, by developing and disseminating scalable, replicable models and instruments, thanks in part to our collaboration with national and international stakeholders. This is certainly the case for some of our most significant projects, such as Common Places, which provides rent-controlled housing solutions for people in difficulty and city users, in two temporary residences in the Porta Palazzo and San Salvario districts of Turin, according to the social mix principle.
Every solution we have supported has addressed specific needs: StessoPiano provides a social housing estate agency service designed to help young people live autonomously by offering private-market apartments to rent on a house-sharing basis; Condominio Solidale di via Gessi offers co-housing for a mix of elderly people, mothers with school-age children and single people assigned to structured pathways towards social autonomy; Coabitazioni Giovanili Solidali is aimed at young volunteers who live in public housing complexes in Turin; and the Casa delle Opportunità provides support for young people who have recently left criminal custody.
In 2019, we also designed and launched ioabitosocial, an online platform for posting and searching for temporary social housing solutions in Italy, thereby digitally connecting supply with demand.
We are also tackling social housing at a national and international level, through a partnership aimed at formalising the sharing of design capacity: in this respect, we co-promote and take part in Urbanpromo, an annual initiative covering social housing, urban regeneration and the protection, enhancement and profitable use of environmental resources and the landscape.
Social housing culture
To ensure that the projects we support generate shared experiences and models that can be replicated in other geographical areas, we strive to promote a formal culture of social housing, by fostering opportunities for meeting, coordinating and exchanging views at national and international level. This is why we have always played a leading role, as organisers or speakers, in seminars, workshops and conferences on social housing, with a view to sharing data, tools and methods and supporting capacity building programmes.
