Uni minister launches work group on student rent crisis

(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).