Social Housing: An Appraisal Model of the Economic Benefits in Urban Regeneration Programs

Abstract

The decision-making process relating to Social Housing (SH) policies and projects involves social and urban transformations and is consequently linked to urban planning, urban regeneration projects, the dynamics of the real estate market and cooperation between public and private developers. Furthermore, this decision-making process must be supported by assessments relating to economic feasibility and assessments on social and environmental sustainability. The paper illustrates a decision support evaluation model for the implementation of integrated urban redevelopment programs related to Social Housing interventions to be implemented in PPP. The model is based on the search for an economic balance between the interests of the parties involved, with the aim of maximizing the share of housing in SH by minimizing the public contribution quota. The model was developed on a degraded settlement of Public Residential Construction, the subject of a wider urban regeneration program in the Municipality of Reggio Calabria (Italy). Considering the financial feasibility constraint for the developer and the conditions of the local real estate market, with the risk of the investment attached to it, the model makes it possible to verify the economic sustainability and the financial feasibility of the interventions in SH through the estimation of: (i) The profit of the developer/investor; (ii) the trade-in value to be paid to the developer against the investment; (iii) the maximum share of SH to be carried out in development. The research and the results obtained highlight the utility of the model and the ease of use in the programming phase, in relation to urban regeneration programs that involve interventions in SH.