One and a half billion funds for social housing

"Public property: an opportunity to regenerate cities and create value'. These were the words of the Director of the Agenzia del Demanio, Alessandra dal Verme, to the audience at the 32nd Forum Scenari Immobiliari, which closed on Saturday in Rapallo. A new vision of the Agenzia del Demanio that goes beyond 'conservative' management to give centrality to users and look at public real estate as a tool for urban regeneration and the creation of value for the territory. Central to dal Verme's vision is the 'quality of design' ensured by the design structure for central administrations and territorial bodies, in addition to the planning of major interventions, with a long-term vision, and the introduction of an innovative, efficient and sustainable public office model.

The CEO of Cdp Real Asset Sgr, Giancarlo Scotti, instead highlighted the results achieved by the company over the past year: from the expansion of the offer on the social housing front in response to the housing emergency, progressively extended to the "3 ESSES" of Social Housing (social, student and senior housing), to the launch of important projects for the recovery of urban spaces; from the extension of the activity in support of the tourism-receptive sector to intercept new trends in tourism to the support of investments in energy transaction and circular economy, in line with the European Agenda 2030. "In social infrastructure, we launched the senior housing asset class and strengthened our operations in student housing where, with our fund of funds Fnas, we entered 5 target funds, financing 24 interventions for 6.800 new beds, while on the green infrastructure support front, through the Fof Infrastrutture, we have invested in 4 funds, supporting over 25 interventions," said Scotti, emphasising how the presence of Cdp Real Assets has catalysed resources from other institutional investors in both sectors, enabling the target funds to raise further funds with a significant multiplier effect of over 4 times the resources mobilised, for a total of around EUR 1.5 billion.

The Agenzia del Demanio opens up to dialogue with the private sector, telling operators in the sector to 'be courageous in inventing solutions' and recounting its commitment to integrated real estate planning, which finds its greatest expression on the ground in the Public Real Estate City Plans, implemented in close cooperation with local authorities to meet the needs of administrations and communities so that the functionality and care of public real estate contribute to the wellbeing of cities and their inhabitants. In this context, the synergy with research centres and universities and with businesses remains decisive in order to create social, cultural and environmental economic value through the involvement of private parties by resorting to forms of public-private partnership.

The issue of resources is also central for Cdp, and Scotti recalled how Cdp Real Asset has managed to mobilise a further EUR 200 million in European resources on the social housing front: "we have signed a co-investment agreement with the European Investment Fund as part of the first national programme dedicated to social housing promoted by the EIF in Europe, and we have launched the new National Housing Fund, the first in Europe to benefit from the InvestEU programme's guarantee in the social housing sector. Scotti cites in particular the work in progress in Rome with eight construction sites underway to change the face and use of real estate complexes that will soon be back on the market, starting with the former polygraphic office in Piazza Verdi, partly leased to Enel, and ending with the Eur towers in the pipeline to become a new headquarters for the FS group.

Among the initiatives characterising the Agenzia del Demanio's commitment today is the planning of large-scale projects with a long-term vision beyond the event and in 'phases', such as the cases of Tor Vergata and the Justice Park in Bari (for which the call for tenders for the integrated contract is now coming out). Commitment also in the definition of new public offices, innovative efficient and sustainable starting from the territorial locations, with ESG indicators. Add to this the return of previously closed spaces to the city: from North to South the case of the archives in Milan and Naples.