Osteria Social Club, SROI evaluation of the social housing intervention of the Urban Housing Coop Net network

Title Social Return On Investment social impact evaluation for the “Osteria Social Club” social housing complex of the Urban Housing Coop Net network

Location Florence, Italy

Duration October 2024 – December 2025

Funding InvestiRE Società di gestione del risparmio S.p.A., Fondo “Housing Toscano”, Abitare Toscana

 

Context

The retrenchment of the welfare state pushes people to seek solutions for both individual and collective needs – including housing – in the self-organisation of people and civil society, in order to share resources and activate generative processes of social value on a mutualistic basis. It is in this context that the Urban Housing Coop Net network was born, a network of cooperative and third-sector entities promoted by Cooperativa CooperToscana, sponsored by the Region of Tuscany and coordinated by Abitare Toscana (social manager of the Tuscan Housing Fund), which operates in the field of social housing and welfare to promote a cooperative and collaborative model of housing and urban development. The network began operating in 2020 within the social housing estates of the Tuscan Housing Fund and is now active in Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Scandicci, Montelupo Fiorentino, Prato and Pistoia.

The network supports residents’ communities of social housing estates in designing and producing community and welfare services that contribute to the strengthening of the social fabric, inclusion, cultural animation, well-being, environmental sustainability and quality of life, with the aim of innovating cooperation as a form of sustainable management of collaborative housing contexts-in an approach called Urban Housing.

In particular, Urban Housing Coop Net supports residents with the community management of the social housing estate “Osteria Social Club”, located in Florence, near Via Pistoiese. Osteria Social Club has a total of 83 socially rented apartments – with rents below the market threshold – that accommodate different types of households. With a view to Urban Housing, the complex includes collective spaces and housing services for both residents and the neighbourhood. In particular, one of the ground-floor apartments is used as a common room for the activities of tenants, who are organised into a Committee of Inhabitants, while 4 apartments are intended for residence for fragile targets: 2 apartments managed by Cooperativa G. Di Vittorio dedicated to a supported living project for users followed by mental health services; and 2 apartments managed by the Auser Abitare Solidale Association as part of the “La Terza Soglia” project, aimed at individuals or households exiting temporary shelter systems, such as people living at risk of losing their housing or women victims of gender-based violence exiting shelters. In addition, the management of green areas is entrusted to the Beta Due Cooperative, which works in cooperation with residents.

General Objective

The Local Development Unit ha s been involved to carry out a social impact evaluation through the SROI methodology of the “Osteria Social Club” social housing initiative,  in relation to the social and community management activities implemented between 2020 and 2026 for both the estate’s residents and the Le Piagge neighbourhood community more generally.

 

Our contribution

The evaluation of the social impact of Osteria Social Club through the SROI methodology involves a structured process shared with the members of the Urban Housing Coop Net network. The work began with stakeholder engagement through in-depth interviews and participation in a number of meetings with the network and residents, followed by the analysis of a questionnaire addressed to residents and document analysis to identify baseline outcomes. Based on this information, the SROI index will be calculated using economic proxies selected from the literature and interviews.

 

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