Tancredi Attinà, Abitare Toscana s.r.l.
Tuscany boasts a rich history of entrepreneurial, cooperative, and mutualistic practices that continue to generate concrete social innovation initiatives. Many of these projects emerge organically from local communities, operating alongside structured and fully funded initiatives like the Fondo Housing Toscano (FHT). Rooted in their territories, these organizations directly address real societal needs by providing support, shelter, inclusive spaces, and community cohesion.
However, because these initiatives operate within temporary, project-based frameworks dependent on time-limited and often co-funded financing, their physical use of spaces remains inherently temporary and bound to specific funding cycles. Notable examples can be found within the Fondo Housing Toscano framework, where housing services for vulnerable groups exist on a project basis: in fact, several of these housing services were launched under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP/PNRR). A critical question arises: what happens once project funding ends?
Many of these temporary services address fundamental societal needs and could formally qualify as Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI / SIEG). Recognizing them as such would allow for stable, permanent support, leveraging existing local expertise and community integration to bridge critical gaps in traditional public welfare systems.
European social funds could provide structural financial support for these housing services under the SGEI framework, creating economies of scale that ensure long-term system sustainability. The “Rigenerazioni” event—organized by Lumen and Urban Housing Coop.net and sponsored by Urbanpromo—explored these local practices to establish a viable legal and economic framework, which will be presented and critically analyzed during this conference session.
The program of the event is in development.
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