Ageing, plan on co-housing between different generations ready

In Italy there are 5.8 million elderly people living alone. Just 8.5 per cent of them can count on the support of a carer. This means that currently the percentage of over-70s living alone in our country is among the highest in Europe; women predominate. A statistic that is destined to worsen, so with demographics at a premium, recourse to solutions is at the very least a priority. It is in this context that the development of intergenerational cohousing is born. That is, the hypothesis of correlating the needs of the elderly with those of the young. The former often need a cared and assisted living situation, the latter an economically sustainable housing situation. Intergenerational cohousing has thus been nominated to be one of the pillars, together with senior cohousing, of the Elderly Reform (law 33/2023).

Two projects on the implementation of which the Guidelines provided for in Article 15 of Legislative Decree 29/2024 were focused. An articulated path that is now coming to fruition.

'The Guidelines that we are drafting and that we will present by June 2026,' explains the Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policies Maria Teresa Bellucci, 'enhance existing good practices and define a clear governance, territorial and planning framework, to be followed in order to promote their dissemination throughout the country, while respecting local specificities.

There are several experiences already in the field. Projects such as "Ca' Nostra" in Modena and "Solidaria" in Ferrara, which combine solidarity, sharing and bio-building, or initiatives such as "Over Villa Vilma" in Milan, the "Villaggio Novoli" in Florence and "Spazio Blu" in Rome, which represent advanced models integrating modern environments and technological services designed to promote the independence and wellbeing of the elderly.

"We have set up - he continues - for the first time a working table, within the Interministerial Committee for Policies in Favour of the Elderly Population (CIPA, ndr), with the participation of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the National Guarantor for People with Disabilities, and the Cabina di Regia for the valorisation of the public real estate assets, wanted by the government to map billions of unused and strategic state buildings for an urban and social regeneration that brings together institutions, the Third Sector and businesses". The timetable, therefore, foresees the presentation of the text in the coming days to the Cabina di Regia for the use of public property and, subsequently, its approval by CIPA.