A trial real estate redevelopment project for housing and community welfare is underway in Tuscany. It provides collaborative services and social inclusion activities for tenants of the rent-controlled flats.
Renovating run down properties and handing them back to cities, with apartments made available for those who can’t afford market rents, and services for the community is part of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti’s sustainability strategy, in line with the 2019-2021 Business Plan.
The keys to 56 of the 66 rent-controlled apartments have already been handed over in Florence. The remaining 17 spaces, making a total of 83 planned for the former "Casone" in via dell'Osteria in the Piagge district, now renamed the “Osteria Social Club", will be made available to the "third sector".
The renovation work on the building, which was previously occupied by squatters, was completed on schedule (in May 2019, CDP committed to return the building to the city by 2020), redeveloping one of the most popular areas of the city of Florence.
"We are proud of this efficient and sustainable project, keeping the promise we made a year ago", said the General Manager of CDP Investimenti SGR (CDP Group) Marco Sangiorgio, during the inspection attended by, among others, the Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella, the President of the Fondazione CR Firenze Luigi Salvadori.
From the Casone to the Osteria Social Club The project in via dell'Osteria was made possible thanks to the joint work of the Fondazione CR Firenze and the Municipality of Florence with financial support from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti through the Fondo investimenti per l’Abitare (Housing Investment Fund), the anchor investor of the Tuscan Housing Fund managed by InvestiRE SGR who carried out the building works.
The 'Osteria Social Club' real estate complex required a total investment of approximately 10 million euros for the construction works.
“Osteria Social Club”, whose management has been entrusted to the Abitare Toscana cooperative, is spread over four floors with 83 apartments of different sizes and spaces for collective activities and services for residents. The project related urbanisation works also included the construction of car parks and a public park.
Families and individuals who will live in the apartments were selected through an application process run by the Municipality of Florence. The criteria for selection include having residence or work in the regional area and a family income higher than the threshold for social housing, but not sufficient to afford market rents.
The project will trial community welfare initiates, with the establishment of collaborative services and social inclusion activities to improve tenants’ living conditions. To support the future community, Abitare Toscana has created the “Abito in Community” app, a smartphone app for managing services such as car sharing, purchasing groups, time bank, space management and event organisation. The app will help tenants to live as neighbours and be part of a real community
Sustainability With the 'Osteria Social Club' project, CDP is contributing to the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals numbers 1 (Zero poverty), 10 (Reduce inequality within and among countries) and 11 (Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), by developing social housing or mixed social private buildings. Indeed, it is an urban regeneration initiative implemented thanks to a public-private partnership of a number of parties that strengthens and widens available housing by responding, in a professional and innovative way, to the needs of specific groups of people in precarious conditions, also providing spaces for community projects managed by the third sector.