Beppe Sala announced his plan to fight the renting crisis

There has been much discussion about rents in Milan. After student protests in recent years, young people's hopes have turned towards the intervention of the municipal administration to solve the problem. For young out-of-town workers, however, the utopian dream is represented by the bursting of the housing bubble, which since post-Covid has continued to raise the cost per square meter, making it impossible to buy their first home. Yesterday, Mayor Beppe Sala finally presented his plans to address the rent crisis at the annual Assimpredil Ance assembly. Sala proposed the creation of 10,000 apartments with «rents between 40 and 90 euros per square meter per year», a project that, if it works, would allow renting 70-square-meter apartments for about 300 euros per month. According to the mayor, this type of social housing would mainly help young workers with salaries between 1,500 and 2,000 euros per month, who are currently forced to spend much of their income on rent.

Regarding student residences, Sala announced that on October 11 he will meet with the rectors of Milanese universities to discuss the issue. Additionally, during the press conference, the mayor mentioned the 2,800 public housing units currently vacant in Milan. The administration stressed that all of these homes would require complete renovations before being assigned, but Palazzo Marino is struggling to manage the problem. Currently, the City is trying to involve private investors to finalize the projects. Among the proposals presented are the granting of public areas and the reorganization of public real estate assets in Milan’s historic center.

In recent months, issues related to rents in Milan have become even more urgent, further complicated by the urban investigations by the Milanese prosecutor's office on various redevelopment projects, including Bosconavigli by architect Stefano Boeri. Regarding this, Sala stated that, for now, Palazzo Marino has not seen a “flight of investors”, but it is undeniable that the real estate market has slowed down over the past year. He added: «After the period of the superbonus, data indicates a significant slowdown, between 7 and 8%, also due to these problems. It cannot be said that the sector is flourishing today».