EUR 4.8 billion from regeneration diverted to the Housing Plan

The fund for urban regeneration projects, earmarked year by year for municipalities that apply for it, has been emptied. And transferred to the first pillar of the Housing Plan, the one dedicated to social housing and social housing. With an effect not only on accounting and form, but also on the territorial distribution of resources: if the funds for regeneration were widely distributed throughout the country, even for small-scale projects, social housing is in danger of being the prerogative mainly of large cities in the Centre-North, for more significant investments.

The final version of the decree on the Housing Plan confirms one of the most politically delicate passages of the intervention put together by the executive: an important share of the resources included in the measure (€4.8 billion, i.e. 85 per cent in the first pillar, excluding the social climate fund) will arrive by putting a new label on a container that already existed. Thus, the Urban Regeneration Fund, created with the 2020 Budget Law, will be largely emptied and used to feed the public part of the housing emergency programme.

That Fund, starting in 2021 (and, in the forecasts, up to 2034) allocates contributions to municipalities for investments in urban regeneration projects, 'aimed - as the manoeuvre of the time explained - at reducing phenomena of marginalisation and social decay, as well as improving the quality of urban decorum and the social and environmental fabric'. These projects are also very small in size. According to a Prime Ministerial Decree of 2021, in fact, they could be allocated "up to a maximum limit of 5 million euro for municipalities with a population of 15,000 to 49,999 inhabitants, 10 million euro for municipalities with a population of 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, and 20 million euro for municipalities with a population of 100,000 or more inhabitants and for provincial capitals or metropolitan city headquarters". In short, even small jobs but spread throughout the territory.

To give just a few examples, the regeneration funding lists included the redevelopment of the Ciclopi promenade in Acitrezza (in the province of Catania), the renovation of the Marconi primary schools in Afragola (in the province of Naples), the renovation of a cultural centre in Via Cafiero in Barletta, and the construction of a car park in Piazza della Repubblica in Campobasso. Hence, small mending jobs in the area, which are essential for mayors.

Now these resources change destination and regeneration is defined as of now: thus, it will not reach 2034 as planned, shortening its existence from fifteen to six years. Slightly less than 5 billion euro, between now and 2034, will be allocated according to the criteria set by a new measure, as an exception to the principles indicated for regeneration, through "one or more notices". Basically, they will be used for the housing emergency, along two lines: the restoration of council houses that are unfit for occupancy due to lack of maintenance, but above all "the recovery of buildings intended for social housing", i.e. the conversion of public buildings to social housing. Both destinations, however, will mainly concern large cities and the regions of the Centre-North.