The Conditions of Accessibility to Housing for Foreign Citizens: The Case of Genoa

Immigration in Genoa manifested itself starting from the second post-war period through a considerable flow of people coming from South of Italy regions looking for an occupation in many state industries and companies located in the city or the port. The phenomenon ceased in the ’70 s with the beginning of the deindustrialization and it has been substituted by foreign immigration coming from North Africa and Central America poorest countries. The new residents settle in the central and semi-central neighborhoods of the city abandoned by traditional residents due to physical and social degradation conditions or in the semi-central and peripheral ones where the prices’ lower level makes apartments more accessible to this specific demand, often characterized by a reduced economic capacity. In this context, the present contribution wants to propose the analysis of the immigration phenomenon which characterized Genoa over the last decade, by investigating the real estate demand expressed by foreign origin new residents and the following comparison with the real estate offer .The objective is to define the house accessibility condition by foreigners, also connected to the qualitative requests and their willingness to pay; the study was developed through specific questionnaires distributed in collaboration with some real estate agents operating in the city.