Abstract

In Italy, in recent years, the housing issue seems to have attracted more interest from policy-makers and scholars. Following a period where it was largely regarded as marginal, several authors speak of its resurgence or exacerbation. At various levels of severity, the crucial issue of affordability turns out to be far from resolved and, indeed, poses greater challenges. The picture becomes more complicated for the so-called vulnerable segments of the population and, even more so, for those who find themselves in conditions of severe social marginalization such as the homeless. The author was responsible for monitoring and evaluating the implementation process of Notice 4/2016 in the Piedmont region on behalf of IRES Piemonte. This program aims to support housing insertion projects for adults at risk of extreme marginalization and/or homelessness. For the purposes of this contribution to the debate, we will focus on the elements that emerged regarding the (challenging) intersection between housing and social policies. The research findings shed light on the need for an interdependence between social and housing policies that is reaffirmed both by a regulatory framework, which at the national level should conceive of housing as a real welfare policy, and at the local level as an essential requirement for the successful implementation of interventions.