University rectors on Tuesday called
for existing state property to be converted into student
accommodation rather than for new residences to be built as an
immediate solution to the student rent crisis in Italy.
"There is no question that there is a rent problem," the
president of the Rectors' Conference Salvatore Cuzzocrea told
ANSA, referring to the recent protest by a student who camped
outside a Milan university to highlight the prohibitive cost of
renting rooms in the northern business capital.
"However, we are working with University Minister Anna Maria
Bernini and we recently delivered places to 8,000 students," he
continued.
"We are now working with mayors to find properties belonging to
the state, municipalities and confraternities that can be
quickly converted into student residences.
"The Rectors' Conference does not want to build new buildings
but to reconvert buildings to provide lower-priced housing to
students right away," concluded Cuzzocrea.
On Monday Bernini on Monday launched a working group of experts
tasked with providing rapid answers on the issue of university
housing and the right to study as part of government plans to
create 14,000 additional beds for students in the coming years
at a cost of 567 million euros.
The move came after the Rector of the Milan Polytechnic,
Donatella Sciuto, expressed her support for Ilaria Lamera, the
20-year-old student who was camping out in a tent to protest
against the high cost of rent in Milan.
"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".
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.
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