Local effects of a diffused and misleading rhetoric: Social mix and local housing policies

The paper focuses on a specific dimension of the use of the concept of social mix, by discussing the results of intensive empirical work developed on the most recent program of municipal housing promoted in Milan (Italy).The paper will highlight how in the Italian context the social mix approach has been justifying not only actions oriented towards the residential de-segregation of low-income or ethnic minorities groups , but also projects aiming at answering to the housing needs of some specific medium-low income groups that are considered functional to support urban growth. After decades of institutional inertia of housing policies, this attention has been justified as an innovative policy orientation, opening to the involvement of private social housing providers and taking care of the needs of new vulnerable groups, while previous social housing policies were oriented only towards weaker social actors. In this conception, the concept of social mix has been represented as an innovative tool of social justice, among differently disadvantaged social groups. However, until now, this plan has represented a big failure in terms of results. Due to the high cost of the rents, only a part of the stock has been allocated, although a huge housing emergency in the city and a long waiting list of low-income inhabitants. By analyzing this case study, the paper attempts to highlight the existence of different rhetoric in the public debate about social mix, as well as its influence on the design of local public policies. Moreover, the contribution intends to analyze and discuss the possible negative consequences of these programs in terms of social justice. Starting from the research conducted in Milano, the paper will discuss the emerging criticalities with a more comparative perspective, in connection to research work developed in Toronto, Canada and Hamburg, Germany.