Since ten years, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti has been committed to promoting and supporting the development of private social housing, known as Social Housing, through a fund of funds, the Fondo Investimenti per l’Abitare (FIA), in which it is the reference investor (with 1 billion euro capital, equal to about 50% of the total endowment) and manager through its subsidiary CDP Immobiliare SGR. The FIA operates through an Integrated System of Funds (SIF): 29 local real estate funds, managed by 9 SGRs, whose reference investor is the FIA (with shares of between 33% and 80% of the total capital) and whose co-investors are local stakeholders, primarily local banking foundations, but also regions, provinces, municipalities, housing cooperatives and private developers. The total resources mobilised by SIF amount to about EUR 3 billion (a 3X multiplier with respect to CDP’s investment), thanks to which SIF can be considered one of the most important interventions in terms of size, active in the field of impact investing.
SIF’s objective is to create 20,000 housing units as well as beds in temporary and student residences. To date, more than 220 projects have been realised or are in progress throughout the country.
The Social Housing programme promotes, in particular, three distinct types of interventions: (i) new social housing neighbourhoods in cities that offer housing mainly for rent but also for sale to young couples, large or single-parent families, and legal immigrants; among the most representative examples are Cenni di Cambiamento, Figino Borgo Sostenibile, Cascina Merlata Social Village, Redo Merezzate Smart District and 5Square in Milan, Vivo al Venti, Cascina Fossata and Nuova Falchera in Turin, the redevelopment of the former Sadoch area in Trieste, the former Marangoni area in Rovereto (TN) the former Boero area in Genoa, the former Manifattura Tabacchi in Perugia, Osteria Social Club in Florence, le Corti di Medoro in Ferrara, the Stadio district in Lecce, Parco Gentile in Bari, Housing Città dei Sassi in Matera, Olbia Social Housing; (ii) university and temporary housing, which offers beds and services to off-campus students and those who are forced to cope with a housing need limited in time; among the most relevant interventions Campus Santa Marta in Venice, Padua via Delù, Ivrea24, Campus Sanpaolo and the EX MOI in Turin, Campus Milano Internazionale, BSC Bicocca and Campus Monneret in Milan, the We_Bologna hostel in Bologna; (iii) social and healthcare facilities and sheltered residences for the self-sufficient and non-self-sufficient elderly, including Villa Fastiggi in Pesaro and Civitas Vitae Marche, based on an innovative model that sees longevity as a community resource.