The regional councilor, Davide Tavernisepresented a question to the President of the Regional Council, Roberto Occhiuto, to solicit concrete strategies aimed at increasing the supply of public residential buildings in Calabria.
The question is the result of various inputs arriving from the territory and in particular from the Welfare Councilor of the Municipality of Cosenza, part of the 5 Star Movement, Veronica Buffone. The initiative aims at the construction of new housing, the involvement of local and private authorities and the redevelopment of the existing building stock, to respond to the growing housing hardship which particularly affects vulnerable families.
Tavernise denounced “the serious inefficiencies of Aterp Calabria, which has been under administration since 2016”, underlining how “this situation is worsening the conditions of those who live in overcrowded and unsafe accommodation”.
The group leader of the 5 Star Movement in the Regional Council stated that “the right to housing is fundamental” and recalled the data from the very recent report published in December 2024 by Uil Calabria and Uniat Calabria, which shows that “over 11,000 applications for housing The assignment of public residential housing still remains unfulfilled, in the face of a public building stock that is largely obsolete and inadequate”.
The councilor also asked “what measures have been prepared to guarantee compliance with the assignment rankings, speed up procedures and combat abusive occupations and favouritism”, highlighting “the importance of funds for extraordinary maintenance, safety measures and energy efficiency of existing housing and asked for clarification on the timescales foreseen for the implementation of these interventions”.
Councilor Buffone instead declared that “local authorities are left alone to address these problems, where there is no clear housing policy either at national or regional level. But the time has come for the Region to act to find valid solutions for the many problems that municipal administrations have to face every day”. “In Cosenza – continues Buffone – the housing situation is critical, with numerous families forced to live in degraded conditions and without having a concrete response to their right to decent living. It requires a concrete comparison with other bodies and institutions in the area. Our commitment is to guarantee transparency in the allocations and to try to collaborate with the Region to access new and more important funds necessary for the maintenance and recovery of unused accommodation.”
“Housing is a fundamental right – commented the Regional Councilor – and only with coordinated interventions between the Region and the Municipalities will it be possible to address the critical issues, restoring dignity and security to Calabrian families”.
