Italy housing crisis: rising rents and public housing shortages

Italy is facing a significant housing emergency characterized by high costs and a shortage of available public accommodation. In Sicily, organizations ANIA and CASA MIA report that rents have risen by 30% and home prices by over 60% in the last fifteen years, while wages have remained stagnant. Approximately 35,000 applications for public housing are pending in the region.

Nationally, the crisis affects a broad demographic, including low-income families, students, and the middle class. Data indicates that 1.5 million Italian families live in severe housing distress, spending more than 30% of their income on housing. While there are roughly 4.5 million vacant or underutilized properties in the country, many public housing units remain uninhabitable or unassignable due to degradation.

Proposed solutions include a ‘Piano Casa’ (Housing Plan) and potential legislative measures to regularize building irregularities. Some advocates suggest a ‘Conditional Extraordinary Amnesty’ to address the estimated 15% of national properties with bureaucratic non-compliance, which could generate billions in revenue for the state budget.