Overall Objective: contributing to migrants' socio-economic inclusion and promoting peaceful coexistence between communities through the creation of an Agency aimed at providing social mediation services - training, counselling on housing rights, support in finding housing, guidance on the credit access - in the housing field. Specific objectives:

• to facilitate access to housing for third country nationals by supporting all the actors involved in the practice of renting i.e. foreign citizens, home owners and estate agents;
• to remove discriminatory barriers in access to services, including access to the leasing market, affecting migrants; 
• to promote the establishment of trust relationship between landlords and tenants with migratory backgrounds;
• to promote social inclusion and peaceful coexistence within territories/buildings.

The project works through:

1. the Social Mediation Agency in the field of Housing, made up of three offices/desks, located in the Social Services Departments of three municipalities of Rome, where the project operators (social and housing mediators) give information, advice and guidance to migrants looking for a home, such as: Research and vision of the apartments; checking the requirements needed to rent; support regarding housing/rental contracts; support services to the recipients for a period of three months after they lease a property; consulting on microcredit; network activities and guidance to local services (such as social secretariats, employment services);social and housing mediation including directly in buildings.
2. Training for migrants on the rights and duties of tenants, intercultural communication tools, guidance on credit and micro credit, management of the family budget; training for apartment block administrators on intercultural communication tools; conflict management; negotiation techniques; training for civil society in general on the rights and duties of tenants, intercultural communication tools.
3. Multilingual guide on the issues dealt with in the training.

• 218 people involved in the project, including migrants, apartment block administrators, intercultural mediators and social professionals.
• 115 migrants followed by the Agency in six months
• 7 training courses directed to migrants provided
• 3 courses for apartment block administrators provided
• 128 people trained
• 3 Protocols of Understanding signed with estate agents
• 3500 copies of the guide (in its six versions: Italian, English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian) targeted at migrants on the issues of intercultural communication, apartment block regulations, guidance to credit, savings management
• disseminated 500 copies of the guide directed to apartment block administrators on the intercultural communication issue
• disseminated 15 articles/interviews appeared in the local and national media (television, radio and magazines)

Positive aspects:

• the methodology activated by the Agency, in particular the cooperation with the social Secretariats of the Municipalities involved;
• the key role of the social mediators as fundamental third part in the management of social relations among the subjects involved in the lease;
• the close cooperation with the estate agents;
• The collaboration between the social mediation service and the estate agencies is an example of how the synergy between profit and non-profit can be a means to solve social problems;
• the signing of protocols of understanding with 3 Estate Agents that have committed themselves to support the activities and actively cooperate;
• the apartment block administrators were very interested in the issues addressed by the course addressed to them, ie intercultural communication tools, conflict management and negotiation techniques;
• the communication campaign has been very successful, the project had a high media interest and a large dissemination throughout the country. This has contributed to spread the issues related to the living in multiethnic contexts and tools to facilitate communication between people from different socio-cultural contexts.

Negative aspects:

• with regard to the services provided by the Agency: difficult economic conditions of the recipients combined with a leasing market involving very high rents and a total absence of lodging assistance in the local welfare system. The recipients often had incomes too low to be able to access a rental or they had not a regular employment contract, two prerequisites in order to be taken charge by social mediators.
• As for the path for the lease stipulation, a low knowledge of regulations, procedures and the existence of specific rules within the apartment block contexts was recorded (this information has been included in the programme of the course directed to the apartment block administrators).
• With regard to the courses provided: the critical issues identified mainly concern the low frequency. This is due to a general tendency to consider the house just as a physical place rather than as a relational context. The vision of the apartment building as a socialization context, in which relational approaches amongst persons with different socio-cultural contexts can be analyzed and tested, is relatively recent.

Third country nationals legally residing, homeowners, apartment block administrators, social professionals and citizens. 

European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals 2007-2013- European Commission and Italian Ministry of Interior