About Us

In Milan, the high cost of renting is a significant issue, intensified by the city’s urban transformations since Expo 2015. Via Padova, the city’s multiethnic neighborhood, is being impacted by redevelopment dynamics that lead to displacement, pushing migrant families, students, and many precarious workers out of the area.

Abitare in Via Padova was created to respond to these challenges and initiate intervention in the neighborhood. The collective also launched the campaign “Chiediamo Casa” (“We Demand Housing”) to build alliances with tenants’ unions, labor unions, cooperatives, squats, and housing and social associations. This campaign has resulted in demonstrations, participation, and dialogue with institutions. Abitare in Via Padova are also one of the promoters of the national Housing Social Forum network in Italy.

Their main demands include:

• Allocating resources for public and social housing, managed with clear rules and affordable rent
• Regulating the rental market, including private rentals and specifically short-term and tourist rentals
• Implementing tax policies that penalize vacant properties, potentially leading to expropriation
• Providing incentives to rent houses at affordable prices