Migrants in Italy often experience significant difficulty when trying to find adequate and affordable housing. High rents, discrimination, and a lack of knowledge of the national housing system contribute to reduced access to the public and/or private rental market. This scenario worsened in 2018, when the reform of the national reception system (Legislative Decree 113/2018 converted into Law 132/2018) excluded asylum seekers and beneficiaries of humanitarian protection from second-line reception services.

La Tenda cooperative represents an innovative and sustainable system for granting a house to migrants who cannot access the private housing market, either due to a lack of resources or because of prejudices against foreigners on the part of landlords and housing agencies. The aim of the Cooperative is to offer its members in need of a house a certain degree of stability for periods of one or two years, providing them with practical and social support and guiding them towards complete autonomy.

La Tenda is composed of 450 members: most do not benefit directly from the housing service, but decide to sustain it by being part of the project. The membership fee is 250 EUR. As of 2022, La Tenda counts 40 houses in the province of Cuneo (mainly in Fossano) and 3 in the province of Turin (in Ivrea), with approximately 160 members renting a house through its services.

Some of the houses were bought by the Cooperative, others were given by the church or by private entities through a ‘loan for use’ agreement, i.e. without costs. La Tenda cooperative generally renovates and refurbishes those houses and pays taxes in order to provide incentives to the landlords. All the houses are rented out to the final beneficiaries at fixed prices, and the terms of the rent are laid down in a ‘Housing service regulation’: it is established that the users of the accommodation are members of the Cooperative, that the membership fee serves as a deposit that will be returned upon withdrawal, and the monthly rent is fixed at a level far below market prices.

Allocation of accommodation is granted through a private contract, subject to VAT invoicing. Normally, houses are rented for a period of 12 months, which may be extended, on expiry, for 12 months and then extended for a further 6 months at the Cooperative's discretion, should the situation of need persist. One of the policies followed by La Tenda is to slightly increase the rent once that tenants reach a certain economic stability, provided that they should not be in extreme need anymore.

In recent years, several associations that manage governmental reception services in the area have become members of the Cooperative, in order to offer a stable housing solution to the beneficiaries of international and complementary protection who had to leave the governmental centres (normally after 6 months following the recognition of the protection). The ‘housing service’ offered by La Tenda played a central role following the implementation of D.L. 113/2018, which excluded asylum seekers from second-line reception services (including governmental housing).

A particularly successful collaboration was established between La Tenda and Consorzio CIS (the local actors implementing the second-line reception system in Cuneo), as the Cooperative offered some apartments where a co-housing project was set up, with the social support of CIS project manager. Migrants also benefited from social and bureaucratic support offered by social workers paid by CIS.

One of the most challenging aspects of the project is the absence of workers paid by the Cooperative to offer social and administrative support with a view of guiding migrants towards autonomy. This need is being addressed, though, with relevant partnerships being established between La Tenda and local associations and NGOs.

• The house service offered by La Tenda has targeted more than 100 people over the years: approximately 80% of those who rent a house are migrants. Some of them (between 15-20%) are single men coming from the reception and integration system for asylum seekers, and the remaining 75-80% are families who access to the service via the church or the local social services.
• In 2022, the service was provided to a Ukrainian family.
• Migrants normally leave the house on their own after 1-2 years. The maximum time for use of the service is 3 years.

No formal evaluation of the project has yet been conducted. However, the practice was included by FIERI as a good example in its recent research report on innovative integration practices for third-country nationals in the Piedmont region. The report highlighted the project's self-sustainability and the fact that foreigners can become members regardless of their legal status in Italy (newcomers; long-term residents; beneficiaries of international protection).

Direct beneficiaries: People in temporary need of housing support, including asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international/complementary protection, who have the means to pay rent but cannot access the private housing market due to other (bureaucratic/social) barriers. BIPs/BTPs have access to the service through the organisations that are linked to the governmental SAI system. Another category of beneficiaries is families in a condition of social and economic vulnerability who are sent by the church or by social services.

Indirect beneficiaries: The local community, which benefits from the broader climate of social cohesion ensured by the support offered by La Tenda members to migrants living in the small towns where the houses are rented.

The main source of funding is the cooperative members’ fee: La Tenda sustains itself through membership fees, donations and rental income. Occasionally it applies to private funding (banks or foundations). The cooperative owns 15% of the houses it rents.