Solidarity Building of Gessi Street

The project

The Solidarity Building of Gessi Street, also known as Auntie Gessi’s House, is an initiative created in 2008 by the Turin Municipality, in partnership with the Salesian Youth Association, thanks to the financial support and expertise of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. It consists of thirty mini-apartments divided thusly: 18 apartments are inhabited by the elderly in public residential housing, 8 apartments are for vulnerable people reported by the Social Services of Turin, and 4 for “foster families”, who support the temporary guests of the building. The project aims at promoting a model of coexistence based on solidarity and mutual help between different generations and culture. Usually, the “temporary households” are composed of single parents with minor children, single women, young people of both sexes aged between 16 and 32, reported by the social services because at risk of social exclusion. These people live in the Solidarity Building for a period up to 18 months, as an intermediate housing phase necessary to overcome the conditions of temporary fragility and to achieve definitive autonomy. TCNs are both temporary beneficiaries as well as foster families who provide support to others. The ultimate goal of the Solidarity Building is the achievement of the definitive autonomy of the citizens who live temporarily in the 8 apartments, but also the consolidation of the Building itself as a resource for solidarity networks even after the end of the housing experience and the achievement of definitive autonomy. For this purpose, a participatory and integrated planning and management among all the actors that contribute to the integrated system, including the tenants, is therefore essential. 

Moreover, a part of the building is intended for the social services of Turin Municipality who offer help to the whole neighborhood, and a new area is soon to be launched as Day Centre for Elderly, whose activities are managed with the support of the tenants.  As it is, Auntie Gessi’s House is a multi-level and multi-stakeholder initiative, both age and gender sensitive, that operates thanks to the direct involvement of its beneficiaries who play a key role in the success of the project. Moreover, it has proved to be replicable since it served as a model for other similar experiences, created before in Turin, then the whole Piedmont Region and now also Liguria. Finally, it is a well-managed and functioning example of public-private partnership, with both the Municipality and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo providing financial support and expertise to the initiative. Indeed, the Project is part of the broader Social Housing Program of the foundation.  

The impact of the good practice

This particular social housing experience proved to be successful and replicable in different context. Over the years, the initiative was adjusted to the new needs emerged from the monitoring of the activities and the different target groups, as well as extended so as to now include also new activities, such as, for example, the Daily Centre for Elderly at the first floor. Concerning specifically the impact of its activities, according to the analysis done of the temporary accommodation projects during the period 2008-13, all beneficiaries improved their conditions: in fact, by comparing their labour situation and need of specific social support at the beginning and end of accommodation, it emerged that all beneficiaries exited the project with a stable work situation, compared to only one third at the moment of entrance into the program, and the number of who required social support decreased by 2/3.