10 minutes with Rossana Zaccaria, National Coordinator of LegacoopAbitanti

Meet the faces behind housing providers across Europe

Rome, 29 January 2016 | Social, Urban, Economy, Energy

Organisation ID

I would describe LegacoopAbitanti in 10 words as a National Association born in 1961 with around 2000 members and 40 most important cooperatives, with 40.000 dwellings of rental housing 2 billions of assets.
Our key objective is to support cooperatives in the promotion at national level of housing policies oriented to develop new programmes of social housing able to respond to the changing housing demand – called “grey demand” - excluded both from the market and from public housing. Our key issues at the moment are: Urban Regeneration (how to orient and use 500 millions of euros available from a new legislation), Energy Efficiency, the development of new practices of Collaborative Housing and Social Management.
Apart from housing provision, our mission is to offer to cooperatives a know how in all the activities related to a wide concept of housing, to promote the cooperative principles, to create a network among different cooperative sectors and with other stakeholders.
We joined Housing Europe because we strongly believe that it is essential to share practices and knowledge at international level, to promote research projects with European Funds, to be part of an organisation able to make a positive lobbying to promote hosing policies at a European Level, in an age where national contexts are increasingly related to the choices of the European Commission.

In Italy

Housing is considered to be in Italy a priority for an increasing part of the population excluded form the market and from Public Housing, a problem for the politicians that have to reconsider the housing need and the ways to gather resources to give responses.
Our key partners in the country are inhabitants and active houses, Ministry of Infrastructure and of Economic Development, the Agency for Territorial Cohesion, Departments of the Regions related to Housing, private banks and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, CRESME and other research actors, Fondazione Housing Sociale, Urban Promo.
Our main housing policy priority at the moment is to promote new ways to fund the development of social housing now that the FIA (Fondo Investimenti per l’Abitare) promoted by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti is closing its activity. One of the proposal is to use the resources as equity for the operators and no longer in the actual system that involves SGR (Società di Gestione del Risparmio)
The major challenge for the country today is to increase the rate of growth, reduce social inequality, promote policies of social and environmental innovation, using European funds

In Person

I start my working day with reading some news to understand what’s on.
After leaving the office I stay with my two children ( age 7 and 10); sports, music and other activities with and for them.
Currently I read a novel by Alice Munro and the “Age of Caos” of Federico Rampini, while listening to Beethoven
I move around by Electric Bicycle, because Rome is a big city and full of climbs!
I prefer having on my table a cup of tea and a beautiful photo