Fight regional disparities by regulating the practice of collaborative housing. An approach to counteract speculative dynamics in the territories

The contribution examines Italian regional disparities related to the accessibility of quality, dignified, and secure housing for population segments no longer exclusively associated with extreme poverty but belonging to the so-called "grey area" (INU, 2011), referring to individuals not in overt poverty yet unable to independently access housing. Especially after the pandemic, it was deemed necessary to address the issue of housing inaccessibility for a growing number of people; however, reality demonstrates that this condition has worsened, particularly in the increasing economic uncertainties, which hint at the spectre of even more widespread poverty. Owners are sometimes compelled to sell their homes to set aside an economic reserve for unforeseen circumstances: actually, home prices for sale have decreased since the pre-pandemic era, that could be relatively helpful for the few able to secure a mortgage for home purchase. Those forced to rent find their chances of finding a home diminishing, confronted with ever-increasing rents and often the impossibility of entering non-temporary contracts—measures perceived as indispensable by homeowners in the grip of the current economic crisis. The contribution aims to analyse how local planning tools effectively address these new challenges in certain regional contexts compared to others. Collaboration with private operators, using their capital to construct the "public city" in terms of social housing developments, often in synergy with incentives for rents and first-time home purchases by relevant institutions, is necessary; however, this process must prioritize safeguarding the right to housing over investor convenience. This contribution seeks to analyse regional solutions where such collaborations aids to implementing measures that support in building innovative, fair, sustainable, and inclusive cities. Will be analysed the case study of the regulatory process for "collaborative housing" in the Emilia Romagna region, comparing it to local planning measures in other regional contexts, which, promoting incentives for private investors to incorporate social housing quotas, allow sometimes for their monetization towards "public or general interest interventions": this further exacerbates the issue of the lack of guarantee for the right to housing. The regulatory approach to collaborative housing adopted by the studied case, "The new Housing Plan of the Municipality of Bologna" in April 2023, entails different types of reward-based incentives. Projects for urban regeneration within designated urban contexts are directed towards actions promoting functional mix in settlements, providing services open to the community, developing social housing, and regulating forms of living not directly governed by urban planning regulations, with no possibility of deviation from the required criteria. The rules define programmatic guidelines for utilizing abandoned or vacant housing stock, and for repurposing disused areas towards socially oriented uses. This aims to counteract the detrimental effects of speculative dynamics on territories.