Italian Housing Scheme Causes Political Uproar

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22730, 31 August 1948, Page 6

Italian Housing Scheme Causes Political Uproar

(From Henry Duckley, Reuter’s Correspondent). ROME (By Air Mail). Signor Amintorc Fanfani, Minister of Labour and Social Assistance, lias created a political uproar with his scheme to build homes at the rate of 170,000 rooms —ltalian building schemes are reckoned by rooms—each year by means of a levy on workers’ earnings and to allocate the bouses or flats built by an annual “draw” or lottery. The draft law put forward by Signor Fanfani outlines a seven-year plan to build 1,200,000 rooms for workers by the State appropriating from 30 per cent to 60 per cent of the Christmas double-pay bonus paid to workers, employees and State and municipal functionaries in Italy and known as the “Pay for the 13th month.” Signor Fanfani argues it is only right that those at work should help to create employment for others by contributing to this scheme. He likewise stresses the economic virtues of taking out of circulation some hundreds of millions of lire at Christmas-tide. Bonds For Workers

His plan proposes that for each 1,000 lire which the worker or employee would have received as a Christmas bonus, he will receive a bond. Those bonds would be negotiable under certain conditions and after 1956 the State will begin to repay them to workers who have not “drawn a home” in the annual “draw” for the homes built. The State would put 15,000,000 lire into the plan each year.

Except in Christian-Democrat newspapers, the plan has had too tepid reception. The Communist press naturally tends to oppose any plan put forward by the Government and the Communist Unita denounced the scheme in a headline which read: “The tragic farce of the Fanfani Plan—indignant reaction of the workers”: but even independent newspapers such as Rome’s II Messagere were critical of the practicability of thg. scheme. Voce Republicana, organ of the Republican Party, which forms part of the De Gasperi Coalition Cabinet, commented: “The plan foresees the building of 170,000 rooms a year for the next seven years, but to get back to the level of housing accommodation in 1939. it is necessary to build 500,000 rooms a year, so it is clear that the Fanfani plan does not wholly solve the problem.”

Two Persons to a Room

Statistics show that Italy had roughly 34,000,000 rooms available in 1939 showing an average density of population per room varying from 1.2 in Northern Italy to 1.8 in Southern Italy, with an average of 1.4 for the whole country. Then, 1,500,000 rooms were completely destroyed by war and another 3,000.000 partially damaged. Added to this comes the fact that very little building has been done since 1939. It is estimated that the present situation therefore averages two persons per room for all Italy. The whole plan is expected to cost in the neighbourhood of 350,000.000 lire—provided that costs remain as they are at present. Some of the more moderate criticism of the plan includes the complaint that the Government has not presented a general economic plan, allocating materials such as cement, bricks, timber and steel for the solution of building and other problems. “Risorgimento Liberale,” the Liberal Party organ, wrote “Experience shows that if private enterprise is given a chance, homes spring up as if by magic. In. the large Italian towns, the real estate market is divided into twe sectors. that for the pre-war houses whose rents are blocked at nonsensically low figures and post-war houses, whose rents are so high that, as is happening in Milan, no tenants can be found who can afford them.” “Draw” For Under the scheme, the workers who “draw” homes will not got them free. Over a period of 25 years, the will have to pay the difference between the cost of building the dwelling and the amount.they had subscribed to the scheme plus the amount of certain State contributions to the scheme which is to be placed to the credit of the worker. The new tenant will also have to pay for the ordinary upkeep of the house or fiat. Estimated costs are 400,000 lire (about £200) per room—so a fourroomed fiat would cost 1,600,000 lire (about £800). Apart from the global state contributions to the scheme, the State will also pay each year three per cent of the charges for the liquidation of the cost of the dwelling. Altogether, it is not possible to get a very clear idea as to how much an average dwelling i's likely to cost the worker who “draws" it. during the 25 years between getting it and when it becomes his property-