For people earning less than 2500 a month, 10,000 new homes in Milan

Where does the middle class live in Milan? Over the next ten years, according to Mayor Giuseppe Sala, in the areas covered by the new housing plan: ten thousand homes will be built by the city council in selected areas at a maximum price of 80 euros per square metre. According to data collected by Immobiliare.it - Italy’s largest real estate website - in January 2024, the average rent in the fashion capital is €23/sqm per month, so the Piano Casa could be a way of meeting the housing needs of the middle class, to be identified in the population with an income between €1,500 and €2,500/month.

The first phase will cover the areas of Porto di Mare, Lampugnano, Gorla and Quinto Romano, with projects to be realised thanks to the sale of municipal property and public-private partnerships. The first step will be to collect expressions of interest from operators, who will then have to commit themselves to maintaining a permanently capped rent. "We are ready to receive proposals from cooperatives, foundations and many other entities that want to make a real contribution to Milan's housing problem. The plan represents an ambitious challenge, but also a valuable opportunity to rebuild the city from the point of view of social inclusion," says Guido Bardelli, Councillor for Housing. "Thanks to the new social housing at subsidised rents that we will build as part of the extraordinary housing plan, we will be able to guarantee that a large part of the population will be able to stay in Milan and come from outside," says Giuseppe Sala, even though 3,500 of the square metres provided for in the plan are actually outside Milan.

In order to complete the plan, which foresees the transfer by the Municipality of approximately 300,000 square metres of land, the areas concerned for the following phases are as follows via Giolli, via Trevi, via Pitagora, via Bovisasca, via Esterle, via Quinto Romano, via De Notaris, via de Lemene, via Zama/via Salomone, viale Certosa, piazza Abbiategrasso, piazzale Martesana, Pompeo Leoni, via Betti/Cechov, via Medici del Vascello, via Gatto/via Cavriana and via Balsamo Crivelli.

Opening image: Santa Giulia district, Milan. Photo taken by Andrew on 3 January 2023, source: Adobe Stock