I Fondi di investimento immobiliare nell'Housing Sociale: strumento poco efficace in un rapporto pubblico/privato ancora problematico

The aim of the research is to verify the effectiveness and assess the social benefits of the social housing property funds. This are recent instruments of public-private partnership in Italy. Trough this tool the central and local housing policies are intended to respond to the emergence of the lack of affordable housing, opening up to the market. It was established, in this sector, in the transition between the traditional Edilizia Residenziale Pubblica (ERP, Public Residential Housing) to the Edilizia Residenziale Sociale (ERS, Affordable Residential Housing), better known as Social Housing. In the Piano Nazionale di Edilia Abitativa (PNEA, National Plan for Residential Housing) launched in 2008 (Law no. 133/08, Art. 11) was introduced the Sistema Integrato dei Fondi Immobiliari (SIF, Integrated System Property Fund) created by the cooperation of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Banking Foundations. It is divided into a national "fund of funds" (National Property Fund) and further streams of funding established at the local level. It aims to increase the offer of affordable housing capital maintaining a margin of profitability for the private investors involved, but taking a strong ethical stance. The national fund constitutes a form of investment and not a subsidy for social housing. Also for this reason, the hypothesis of the research is that the effectiveness of the property funds is not demonstrated as regards to the ERS objectives. As well as those of the traditional forms of spatial planning such as Piani di Zona (Law no. 167/62) concerning affordable housing and more recently urban redevelopment programs. The instrument is considered in the broader framework of public-private relationships, both in the process of spatial and urban planning and in the reconfiguration of welfare policies. The satisfaction of the general interest is assumed as the ultimate criterion of validity and critical framework of the work. It analyses the transition in the Italian planning system from a top-down prescriptive framework to a model based on agreement; in particular, the recent evolution of Italian affordable housing system. At the same time are critically analyzed both the technical, economic and social aspects of social housing, and the interim results of the PNEA. The difficult implementation of the property fund is caused by the current economic and financial global crisis, and its complex mechanism. The study takes into account the implications of an instrument technically and politically announced to pursue objectives of general interest in the social housing policy, but also oriented to support the construction industry and the actors deeply involved in the financialization of the real estate market. Therefore the study analyzes the role of the actors involved and the endogenous and exogenous variables that affect the projects implementation at the local level by means of Fondi Immobiliari. The case studies chosen (Fondo Federale Immobiliare Lombardia e Fondo Parma Social House ) were the only ones recently completed through the implementation of property funds. They address economic and financial issues, social utility and process and planning instrument within the ERS. The case studies underline the effects of this approach in connection with their economic feasibility, their technical aspects of spatial planning and the implications they have on this particular sector of real estate market. Then the study concludes that the new tools are poorly effective in responding to the current housing emergency of Italy and that the initial expectations connected with the SIF have been largely unmet. Such conclusions are also confirmed by benchmarking the property fund against similar foreign experiences of affordable housing creation within the market model (i.e. Dutch Housing Associations and the U.S. Trust Funds). All this leads to confirm the permanence, in Italy, of still problematic aspects in the process of urban transformation based on public-private partnerships with the intent to provide affordable housing. Therefore, bearing in mind the general interest and the profitability of private investment, the study proposes some solutions to enhance the capability of the ERS and of the Integrated System Property Fund. It discusses some mechanism that could better ensure the fulfillment of the affordable housing service, generating that greater social utility that justifies the activation of public resources and the locally based public-private partnership.