A few dozen students camped out in front of the Rectorates of some important Italian universities were enough to raise the issue of high rents in the public eye. There are currently 47,500 beds available in public student residences for 590,000 off-campus students. A significant disparity when compared to a potential need of at least 130,000 beds. Only 17,500 have been made in twenty years (since 2002), making the goal of achieving another 60,000 in three years with the NRRP implausible. We've arrived at this point as a result of a confluence of negative factors. Students attracted to universities are frequently regarded as a contribution to the small local economy rather than a factor of development. With so many students, it meant speculating on the location of houses, rooms, and beds, which were frequently in run-down buildings that were rejected by local demand. Then there's the extra cost for shopkeepers, fast food, trattorias, cinemas, and bookstores, especially in medium-small cities. Consider how Siena's population doubles when university students arrive. With the explosion of short rentals and b & b, activities more profitable than renting to students, the balance has cracked in universities of cities experiencing tourist expansion or in large cities. Protests could now resurrect student housing. Creating student residences in project financing - perhaps with a small public co-financing - is a profitable operation that can provide university students with high-quality rooms at reasonable rents of around 450 euros per month. Such interventions are already taking place in Rome and other Italian cities.
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