The non-profit “Impact Housing Foundation (FIH) – Transformative Communities and Cities” has been established on the initiative of Homes4All – an innovative start-up and benefit corporation founded to address the housing crisis and to promote urban regeneration – and of a coalition of CSOs with a shared commitment to housing.

FIH is a participation-based foundation aiming to promote research on models, types, and experiences in the field of innovative housing, and transform the concept of housing as a driver of high-impact social urban regeneration in disadvantaged areas, based on public-private cooperation and investments from both privates and CSOs. The people-centered approach will prioritize actions for the care and wellbeing of people, growth for future generations and
environmental sustainability.

The foundation is based in Genoa, to acknowledge the city’s heritage as the crib of social solidarity. Throughout the centuries, the city has interpreted solidarity in creative ways and has prioritized the common good; by remaining open to the Mediterranean and maintaining a welcoming and sensitive nature, and rich social initiatives.

Matteo Robiglio, FIH Chair, architect, researcher, professor at the Polytechnic of Turin, and founder of FULL the Future Urban Legacy Lab interfaculty research center, stated:

“In a social impact view, housing – its different facets and integrated with other urban functions – may be the decisive element to render urban regeneration processes transformative. It can enhance the potential created by cultural and social initiatives as it reuses and transforms buildings, requalifies community spaces and integrates different types, functions, generations, and social groups.

FIH research initiatives and actions aim to contribute to the creation and dissemination of this new kind of operational housing culture, by overcoming the consolidated barriers between the public and private sectors, market and social affairs, non-profit and profit, with a common goal of providing everyone with a house that can be beautiful, affordable and deeply integrated in the community and the city.

In addition to Homes4All, the other founding members are DRC Italia, one of the major international NGOs working in 40 countries worldwide in the field of migrants and refugees protection, COMIN, a social and solidarity cooperative based in Milan, which promotes educational actions for minors and families, the elderly and people with disabilities, or
experiencing vulnerabilities and social isolation; CEIS Foundation Genoa, Genoa Solidarity center founded by Bianca Costa Bozzo with decades-long experience in supporting people in extremely vulnerable situations due to addiction or other vulnerabilities and offers therapeutic, educational, and social inclusion initiatives.

“Homes4All is growing and gaining momentum, not only thanks to its scalable model in Italy but also thanks to new alliances and join forces to support those facing vulnerabilities. The decision to create a foundation specialized in social impact housing stems from the desire to develop new urban regeneration methods and new housing models. Along the way, we met high-level partners who believed in our initiative and enabled the creation of the foundation
with Homes 4All, by sharing their skills. A defining step forward.” Mario Montalcini- Homes4All President

“People who live on the seaside are welcoming in a creative way; but they still have an underlying vision, and an innovative one, like the Impact Housing Foundation. This project meets a vital need- housing – and it unfolds with creativity and solidarity while involving many people: we are honored to support it.” Enrico G. Costa – Fondazione CEIS Genova

“The opportunity of having a house is key to support people in difficult socio-economic conditions. Even when people are included in inclusion and recovery programs, the lack of stable and decent housing is often the cause for a downward spiral leading to loss of autonomy, health, and rights. Today, With the Impact Housing Foundation, DRC joins forces with private actors and Italian CSOs to innovate social housing. Our ambition is to use our respective expertise in local, national and international contexts to develop inclusive housing models for all those in need.” Giulia Spagna – Country Director DRC Italia

“Establishing the Impact housing foundation is an important and exciting challenge for Comin. It enables us to address the issue of housing in a rich city – Milan – where housing can be an open wound if it is only made accessible to a few. Doing so with actors from sectors other than cooperation will help us experiment with an innovative approach, merging the concrete aspects of people’s lives and the development of community links. This is how urban regeneration is built.” Emanuele Bana, President of Comin Cooperativa Sociale di Solidarietà

Photography contest open to photographers from around the world: we are looking for images focused on Environmental, Social and Governance Sustainability. A prize reward of 1,500 euro will be given to the best shot of the competition and the best photography history will receive a 3,500 euro prize.

Application deadline: September 6th

Per info: www.ispaward.com/en

Photography contest open to photographers from around the world: we are looking for images focused on Environmental, Social and Governance Sustainability. A prize reward of 1,500 euro will be given to the best shot of the competition and the best photography history will receive a 3,500 euro prize.

Application deadline: September 6th

info: https://www.ispaward.com/it

The residency of the winning artists of the second edition of the Torino Social Impact Art Award has come to an end.

Monia Ben Hamouda and the MRZB collective, who during the month of July were supported by tutors Matteo Mottin and Ramona Ponzini from the Treti Galaxie art project, worked on the production of two video works, offering their unique point of view to the representation of social issues and “distant” life stories.

During their stay at Combo, the artists also had the opportunity to confront themselves with the curators and the network of Torino Social Impact, being introduced to the heart of the world of social innovation in Turin. One example was to participate in the co-design activities promoted by the Italian Network of Popular Culture within the project Spaccio di Cultura – Community Concierge.

During one of these meetings, we asked them to tell us about the social value of their work. Here is what emerged.

Monia

Monia Ben Hamouda (Milan, 1991) worked on the film project “Adhan to Dora”, with the aim of portraying the complexities and contradictions of cultural assimilation.

In her case, it was interesting to interact with the city of Turin and the Porta Palazzo district, which reminds her of Tunisia, her country of origin.

The fact that Tunisia does not have a pavilion at the Venice Biennale is symptomatic of how Arab culture is still very underrepresented in contemporary art circuits.
With her project, Monia wants to give voice and visibility to artists who have different cultural backgrounds and, for this reason, find it more difficult to fit in.

Collettivo mrzb

The MRZB Collective worked on the project “STILI DRAMA XVIII-XXI”, oriented towards the deconstruction of a film and the compression of the idea of the contemporary city.

In art, there are implicit meanings that have to do with social impact, from the recovery of waste materials for the production of works to collaborations with groups of emerging artists and marginal communities.
The free and spontaneous approach of this Collective is based on aesthetic and affective research that generates a representation of the suburbs that is frankly authentic.

The works produced during the residency will be presented at Artissima 2021 (November 5-7).