Living well in Milan with €500 per month

Living well in Milan with €500/month is possible. For example at ‘Borgo Sostenibile’ (Sustainable Village) inaugurated last June 13. Located in the historic rural settlement and now Milan borough of Figino, Borgo Sostenibile is a social housing complex made up of 323 flats let at affordable rents or provided under a ‘right-to-buy’ scheme. Half of the flats have already been let and tenants have already settled in, while the rest will be allocated, following a selection process, to eligible tenants who apply within September 25, 2015. The Borgo Sostenibile Project was developed by the asset management company Investire SGR in collaboration with the Social Housing Foundation as an investment of the Lombardy Real Estate Fund promoted by Fondazione Cariplo and the Lombardy Regional Administration. Investors in the Fund include Fondo Investimenti per l'Abitare managed by the asset management company CDPI Sgr, the Lombardy Regional Administration, Fondazione Cariplo and other institutions such as Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit, Generali, BPM, Cassa di Previdenza dei Geometri and Prelios. The project was developed on a parcel of land owned by the Milan Municipality, a partner in the project, that granted surface rights over it for the next 90 years. Borgo Sostenibile features 75sq.m housing units let for a monthly rent of €450, and importantly, common public spaces (a linear park, a promenade, a public square, shops, play areas for children) forming a sustainable neighborhood. Not just housing units, but a cohesive community for families, young couples, elderly people. This social housing complex was developed paying great attention to quality and energy efficiency: the various buildings were designed to have cutting-edge architectural and resource-efficient features for all flats to meet high quality and energy efficiency standards.

The Borgo Sostenibile project started in 2005, when the Milan Municipal Administration, Fondazione Cariplo and the Social Housing Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding for social housing developments to be funded through an "ethical real estate fund". On January 25, 2012, the Milan Municipal Administration and the asset management firm Polaris Sgr (now Investire Sgr) entered into an agreement for the development of the social housing project in the Milan borough of Figino.

Information on how to apply for a Borgo Sostenibile social housing unit and eligibility criteria can be found at www.borgosostenibile.it. Applications will be assessed by an ad hoc team who will check applicants eligibility and cause. Borgo Sostenibile is the fourth smart living social housing project in Milan, following in the footstep of previous successes with the Cenni di Cambiamento, Abit@giovani and Via Padova 36 projects.