Riva Plans 32 Affordable Apartments to Address Housing Needs
The first 32 affordable apartments planned by the new Prg will be built on the outskirts of Riva. They will be developed by Itea in the area at the intersection between Viale Rovereto and Via Stazione; the development will include social services and shops. The expropriation procedures for the 5,600 square meters needed are underway (the owner is the Comune di Riva), which inherited the area from Eca and is in agreement with the project.
Construction is scheduled to begin by next spring, with the housing units, which will meet high standards of construction, expected to be completed the following year. “The goal is to avoid the ghettoization that unfortunately characterized these settlements in the past,” emphasizes Counselor Sergio Dellanna, the initiator of the project. “No longer will we see the unsightly hive-like barracks with numerous families crammed together. In the future, only limited public housing developments are planned, as will be in Bolognano, featuring commercial infrastructures, recreational facilities, and possibly adjacent green spaces. In the northern part, next to Via Stazione, a public park will be built,” he explains.
Real estate program and future initiatives
After smoothly completing this real estate operation, the local administration is launching similar projects. The operational program includes plans to quickly create affordable housing within residential areas. “For over a decade, in Arco, not a single square meter has been set aside for the housing needs of low-income families,” notes Dellanna with concern. “Now we need to recover the lost time rapidly.”
Itea will have access to a substantial amount of land to build numerous apartments. For economic reasons, the agency must focus on new constructions. Redeveloping historic centers is too costly. Isolated, small-scale projects might occur but are unlikely to become widespread. The municipal government’s plan also aims to prevent Itea from being forced, as happened previously in Romarzollese, to buy new apartments from private builders,” he states.
Such initiatives are to be abandoned, according to the urban planning officer of Arcese, because they contribute to raising the already high local housing market prices and compel Itea to spend large sums of money. Meanwhile, Social Issues Counselor Valerio Costa is continuously urging the swift completion of new housing. “Describing the situation as serious is an understatement,” Costa admits. “Last year, we received around 250 housing requests. There are many tragic cases, as the allocation rankings for these apartments show. In light of this, we can do very little.
Soon, we will assign about a dozen small apartments to the elderly in the former municipal construction site. After that, we will wait for the 32 new apartments in Bolognano. For emergencies, we are proposing around ten temporary accommodation units. That’s all,” he concludes.
