State Property, SACE and the third sector: how the scope of the Housing Plan is being expanded

The digital file for public property is to be managed by the State Property Agency. This is the core of the amendment, tabled by Ylenja Lucaselli, a member of the Fratelli d’Italia party, to Decree 66/2026, which is currently being examined by the Chamber of Deputies’ Environment Committee. The proposal, included among the highlighted amendments and therefore considered a sure thing, establishes a single national system to collect, update and cross-reference data on properties used, owned or managed by public administrations. A change of pace which, in theory, aims to resolve one of the most critical issues concerning public assets: truly knowing how many properties there are, where they are, and what condition they are in.

“It was necessary to streamline the system for monitoring public housing,” says the Fdi MP, “a key element in implementing the first pillar on social housing as well as the private sector.” The State Property Agency would thus become the information hub of the Housing Plan. A move that is far from painless: the change brings the Agency back into the picture and, at the same time, intervenes in a structure currently overseen by the Ministry of the Economy through the steering committee tasked with surveying public assets. The issue of funding also remains in the background: the digital file is being introduced without any new or increased costs to the public purse, but it is precisely this move that raises questions about the resources the Agency is expected to use to implement the scheme.

This would, however, broaden the scope of the Plan, which, following its passage through Parliament, could involve several new entities, such as third sector organisations and Sace. More will be known next week, when Decree 66 (rapporteurs: Dario Iaia, Fdi, Erica Mazzetti, Fi, and Elisa Montemagni, Lega) is due to be voted on in the Environment Committee; the passage to the Chamber of Deputies is already scheduled for the following week.

The involvement of the third sector in the programme dedicated to the housing crisis was one of the recurring themes during the hearings before the Chamber of Deputies’ Environment Committee: this is a way of bringing the Plan closer to local communities. There is, therefore, a strong likelihood that some of the many amendments on this subject included in the list of proposed amendments will be approved. A proposal by Fratelli d’Italia (signed by Letizia Giorgianni) aims to make grants for public housing accessible to organisations in the Third Sector and social cooperation ‘operating in the field of social housing and urban regeneration’. But that is not all. Within the framework of public tenders specifically relating to social housing, the amendment would promote agreements and partnerships ‘with housing cooperatives, social cooperatives, third sector organisations, social enterprises and other non-profit entities operating in the social housing sector”, for the reuse of derelict spaces “to be allocated to social housing projects, co-housing, senior housing and integrated housing services”.

A proposal by the Lega (lead signatory: Laura Cavandoli) suggests that, in privately funded social housing projects, provision should be made for ‘the inclusion of local spaces and services, including communal ones, that promote social cohesion and the well-being of the resident community, with particular reference to senior cohousing and intergenerational cohousing projects”. These projects should involve “networks and organisations from the third sector operating in the social, healthcare and community sectors”.