The Veneto 'Piano Casa': 50 million to be invested for young people, couples and caregivers

Any numbers on the plan? What are you starting from?

The project is based first and foremost on the recovery of about 8,800 council housing units currently unused, owned by the Ater - Aziende Territoriali per l'Edilizia Residenziale (Territorial Housing Authorities), which are currently unused because they are in need of renovation and energy requalification. This is an existing heritage that the Region intends to rapidly restore to its housing function, converting the unused into a resource for the territory. The first operational step is the revision of Regional Law No. 39 of 2017, which regulates Public Residential Housing. The amendment will make it possible to release part of the housing currently blocked in the Erp rankings, allocating it to specific categories of Veneto citizens. These recipients will be offered the possibility of accessing lowered rents, sustainable but outside the traditional mechanisms of social housing.

We are talking about an investment of 50 million, for how long and with what scanning hypothesis?

This investment for the Home Plan is part of a multi-year strategy and represents one of the first concrete applications of the reprogramming of European funds recently approved by the Regional Council. Thanks to the adhesion to the new European Regulations on the mid-term review of the cohesion policy 2021-2027, the Veneto Region has been able to re-modulate the ERDF and ESF+ Programmes, obtaining two strategic advantages: the increase of the European co-financing share from 40 to 50 per cent and an extension of the implementation time by one year, which allows a more effective and realistic programming of the interventions. The 50 million is not a ceiling, but a structural basis that will be reinforced by further resources: cohesion funds, residual NRPs, regional financial instruments, public-private partnerships and, in perspective, regional 'home bonds'.

Priorities? 

Resources will be committed by giving priority to projects that can be implemented immediately and are capable of generating a rapid increase in the supply of affordable housing. The aim is to activate a leverage effect, using the public contribution as a risk-reducing instrument for operators, owners and institutional investors.

Any details on the incentive mechanism? 

These will include contributions to the redevelopment of existing assets, support for rents with agreed rents, including through guarantee instruments, promotion of innovative formulas such as rent to buy, with special attention to young people, integration with other regional, national and European instruments.

What criteria should be used to select the allocation of resources?

We envisage a governance with regional direction, but based on institutional cooperation, consistent with the Veneto model of responsible autonomy. The Region defines the strategic guidelines, the quantitative and qualitative objectives and the criteria for the use of resources, while the municipalities will identify the needs, properties and areas of intervention.

Redevelopment and renovation only or is there also room for new construction?

We support the recovery and valorisation of the existing heritage, for environmental, economic and social reasons. In Veneto there is a significant heritage of vacant or underused housing that can be quickly put back on the market, with lower costs and more certain timescales than new construction. This does not mean excluding new interventions, but placing them within a selective logic of urban regeneration, avoiding unnecessary land consumption and aiming at high energy and quality standards.