From right to good, and to asset: The state-led financialisation of the social rented housing in Italy

Abstract

Rental housing has been regarded as the new ‘frontier for financialisation’ since the 2007 financial crisis. But research examining financialisation of de-commodified rental housing is limited and is primarily focused on stock acquisitions by financial investors and the enabling role of either national or local governments. This critically overlooks the emergence of the financialised production of social rented housing, the interplay between levels of government (particularly with the regional level), and the leading role of the state in these processes. By combining a political sociology approach to policy instruments with a housing system studies perspective, the paper investigates how Italy, through the interplay between national, regional (Lombardy) and local (Milan) governments, led the financialisation of its social rented housing production. Through analyses of six decades of financial-legislative changes in the housing system regarding production/provision, finance and land supply, it identifies a three-stage journey towards financialisation: (1) the rise and fall of publicly-owned rental social housing (1950s to 1990s); (2) the regionalisation and marketisation of the sector up to the late 2000s; and (3) the upward transfer from the first local-scale experiment with the real estate mutual investment fund in Milan to the creation of a national-scale System of Funds for the production of social rented housing. The study shows that the re-commodification of housing and land initiated in the 1980s were intertwined and a conditio-sine-qua-non for financialisation; that the state played a crafting—rather than solely enabling—role in this process; and that trans-scalar legislative–financial innovations transformed social rented housing into a liquid asset class.

Changing roles of the state in the financialization of urban development throughchengtouin China

“…Regarding chengtou, the Chinese state demonstrates specificities in terms of its authority over the financial system and responsive bureaucratic system. Nevertheless, similar practices of state-led financialization can be found in Turkey (Yeşilbağ, 2019), Italy (Belotti & Arbaci, 2020;Lagna, 2016) and Belgium (Van Loon et al, 2018). However, even in China with a powerful state, we find the complexity of the state in financialization and contribute to the literature threefold.…”

“…The state is essential in facilitating and enabling the financialization of urban development because financial deregulation and financial policies set the background for capital circulation (Ashton et al, 2016;Weber, 2010). While some states are relatively passive with regard to financialization, some scholars have observed state-led or state-driven financialization in that states proactively intervened in and orchestrated financialization (Belotti & Arbaci, 2020;Gotham, 2016;Lagna, 2016;Yeşilbağ, 2019). In these cases, states do not merely enable financialization but have a central role in financialization.…”

The changing position of housing estate neighbourhoods in the Helsinki metropolitan area

“…With their study, Tranoy et al (2019) contribute to the main strain of housing financialization literature, which namely concentrates on homeownership (e.g., Fields & Uffer, 2016). Nevertheless, since the 2007 financial crises, rental housing has been characterized by Belotti and Arbaci (2020) as the new "frontier for financialization". Thus, there is a growing body of research concentrating on the financialization of social and rental housing in different contexts.…”

The “Souths” of the “Wests”. Southern critique and comparative housing studies in Southern Europe and USA

“…In the long run, the way had been paved by the progressive liberalization of housing at least since the 1980s, with the reduction of tenant protections, cancellation of rent caps, and, more generally, the production of the regulatory and fiscal frameworks to stimulate housing financialization (López & Rodríguez, 2010;Belotti & Arbaci, 2021;Tulumello & Dagkouli-Kyriakoglou, 2021). During the years of crisis and following economic growth, Southern European countries have accelerated reforms in the sectors of housing and planning, with the discursive goal of fostering economic development (Belotti & Arbaci, 2021;García-Lamarca, 2020;Tulumello & Dagkouli-Kyriakoglou, 2021). For instance, both Portugal (Law 31/2012) and Spain (Law 4/2013) further liberalized their rental markets, Italy introduced several reforms to ease public-private partnerships in social housing, and Greece (Law 4346/2015) eased repossessions by reducing protections to defaulting households.…”