Social housing practices in Northern Italy: innovations in time of crisis

The paper focuses on the recent social housing practices in the Northern Italian context. The phenomenon of social housing residualisation took place from the 80s in all the European countries. The paper explores the main features of the Italian social housing: its characteristics and its different typologies. The sector developed during the last ten years, it changed thanks to different government’s orientation and public policy. The analysis of two case studies (the cities of Turin and Milan) allowed the recognition of trends and dynamics in the current practices. The analysis considered both the European context (and inner variety) and the concept of social innovation. In the last part of the paper are explained the opportunities and threats of social housing sector.