The idea comes from afar, from the stories of those who lived "on retirement" in the home of an elderly woman to study or work off-site. But now, in a historical moment in which the "dear rents" makes so much noise, the cohabitation project "At home with grandparents", conceived by the Lucanian cooperative "Universosud", is proposed as a solution also to counteract the loneliness of many pensioners and to "educate" them to the digital world. To then get to "realize the largest student house spread throughout the country".
Obviously, at low cost. Presented in April 2022, the project will take off the next academic year. It will start - tells ANSA the president of "Universosud", Antonio Candela - from the city of Potenza. Decisive is the collaboration with the Order of Psychologists that will cross the questions of young people and the offers of pensioners. Everything will pass through a digital platform: the goal is to combine profiles capable of creating a virtuous model of social housing. The young guests will not pay "a real rent" but will participate "in the expenses of the house with a monthly reimbursement, collaborating in daily matters, maintaining their own autonomy", but making themselves available to do some company and help the "grandparents" in digital education.
The project - which has also obtained the patronage of the Uil, the Uil pensioners, the Municipality of Potenza, the University of Basilicata and the Confcooperative - therefore tries to find concrete answers to various critical issues, starting from the lack of housing and the difficulties deriving from "black" contracts. "I was also - recalls Candela - an off-campus student, here in Potenza. And so I know well the problems of those who are currently protesting around Italy. Starting from the Lucanian capital, we propose a way of cohabitation so used in the sixties and seventies, but with an eye to the future, also meeting the need, and in many cases the desire, of older people to learn to move in the digital world ".
The Basilicata Region is also working on the "dear rents" issue: in the coming weeks a table will meet - which will also include Ardsu (the regional company for the right to university study), universities and government - to examine the opportunities deriving from the Pnrr call dedicated to university residences. The same Ardsu every year, through a call, assigns a hundred housing at a subsidized cost for university students in the city of Potenza, while in Matera the construction of a student residence has been awaited for some time.