Uni minister launches work group on student rent crisis – English

(ANSA) – ROME, MAY 8 – University Minister Anna Maria Bernini
on Monday launched a work group on Italy’s student rent crisis,
which has been highlighted by a student camping put outside a
Milan university to protest the prohibitive cost of renting
rooms in the northern business capital.
   
A group of experts will be asked to provide rapid answers on the
issue of university housing and the right to study, said Bernini
after signing a decree, implementing the measures envisaged by
the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and
establishing an inter-ministerial working group.
   
The experts will be asked to identify the average lowered cost
per bed at a territorial level, taking into account the
reference market values, the types of buildings and the level of
services offered.
   
In addition, a 15 per cent reduction is envisaged to determine
the final cost per bed.
   
The government is to create some
14,000 more beds for students in the coming years amid a rent
crisis highlighted by a Milan student who is camping out outside
her university to protest the prohibitive cost of renting flats
or rooms in the northern city, the university ministry said
Thursday.
   
The ministry said the government would spend a total of 567
million euros to create the new flats and rooms because “the
government considers the right to study a priority”.
   
A Milan university head has backed a student fighting against
high rents in the northern city who has been camping out outside
the Politecnico for days to highlight the plight of those who
can’t afford to rent accommodation there.
   
On Thursday morning the Rector of the Milan Polytechnic,
Donatella Sciuto, met Ilaria Lamera, the 20-year-old student who
has camped out in a tent to protest against the high cost of
rent in Milan.
   
“Yesterday I was in Rome and this morning I went to talk to
her.
   
I told her that we support her in this battle that we are
also fighting as much as possible,’ the rector told ANSA.
   
“As rectors it is something we have been denouncing for a
long time. I also told the mayor: Milan is a city for the
elderly and wealthy and we need housing not only for students,
but also for those who graduate and whose salary does not pay
the rent”.
   
Lamera said she had spoken to centre-left opposition
Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein on the phone, who had
pledged “full support” for her battle.
   
The student is renting a 700 euro a month small flat near the
Politecnico but has temporarily left it for her tent to
highlight her campaign to bring rents down.
   
Official figures say one-room flats in the Italian business
capital are rented out for as much as 600 euros, compared to 275
in another university city, Perugia in Umbria. (ANSA).