Osteria Social Club, SROI evaluation of the social housing intervention of the Urban Housing Coop Net network

Title Social Return On Investment social impact evaluation for the “Osteria Social Club” social housing complex of the Urban Housing Coop Net network

Location Florence, Italy

Duration October 2024 – December 2025

Partner Sociolab, Comune di Firenze, Azienda USL Toscana Centro, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, Consorzio COOB

Funding InvestiRE Società di gestione del risparmio S.p.A., Fondo “Housing Toscano”, Abitare Toscana

 

Context

The retrenchment of the welfare state pushes people to seek solutions for both individual and collective needs – including housing – in the self-organisation of people and civil society, in order to share resources and activate generative processes of social value on a mutualistic basis. It is in this context that the Urban Housing Coop Net network was born, a network of cooperative and third-sector entities promoted by Cooperativa CooperToscana, sponsored by the Region of Tuscany and coordinated by Abitare Toscana (social manager of the Tuscan Housing Fund), which operates in the field of social housing and welfare to promote a cooperative and collaborative model of housing and urban development. The network began operating in 2020 within the social housing estates of the Tuscan Housing Fund and is now active in Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Scandicci, Montelupo Fiorentino, Prato and Pistoia.

The network supports residents’ communities of social housing estates in designing and producing community and welfare services that contribute to the strengthening of the social fabric, inclusion, cultural animation, well-being, environmental sustainability and quality of life, with the aim of innovating cooperation as a form of sustainable management of collaborative housing contexts-in an approach called Urban Housing.

In particular, Urban Housing Coop Net supports residents with the community management of the social housing estate “Osteria Social Club”, located in Florence, near Via Pistoiese. Osteria Social Club has a total of 83 socially rented apartments – with rents below the market threshold – that accommodate different types of households. With a view to Urban Housing, the complex includes collective spaces and housing services for both residents and the neighbourhood. In particular, one of the ground-floor apartments is used as a common room for the activities of tenants, who are organised into a Committee of Inhabitants, while 4 apartments are intended for residence for fragile targets: 2 apartments managed by Cooperativa G. Di Vittorio dedicated to a supported living project for users followed by mental health services; and 2 apartments managed by the Auser Abitare Solidale Association as part of the “La Terza Soglia” project, aimed at individuals or households exiting temporary shelter systems, such as people living at risk of losing their housing or women victims of gender-based violence exiting shelters. In addition, the management of green areas is entrusted to the Beta Due Cooperative, which works in cooperation with residents.
 
General Objective

The Local Development Unit ha s been involved to carry out a social impact evaluation through the SROI methodology of the “Osteria Social Club” social housing initiative,  in relation to the social and community management activities implemented between 2020 and 2026 for both the estate’s residents and the Le Piagge neighbourhood community more generally.

 

Our contribution

The SROI (Social Return on Investment) analysis provided a detailed and participatory mapping of stakeholders and the changes they experienced, and enabled the construction of an impact narrative that goes beyond mere economic measurement, highlighting the relational, organisational and community dimensions of the intervention.

The main objective of SROI analysis is to measure the economic and social value generated by an organisation (profit or non-profit) in the local community where it operates, in order to obtain a quantification, albeit not completely objective, of the impact generated.

The result? An indicator that represents the socio-economic return for each monetary unit spent on the project or on the organisation as a whole.

The analysis focused specifically on social management activities (the so-called “soft” component), explicitly excluding inputs related to the infrastructure component, i.e. the renovation and commissioning of the building, and some changes observed in relation to it.

The social impact generated is clear and largely concerns the tenants of Osteria Social Club, but also the residents of the neighbourhood, the UrbanHousingCoop.net network, and institutional and financial stakeholders.

SROI index indice social return on investment social impact impatto sociale

 

SROI index indice social return on investment social impact impatto sociale

The application of the methodology resulted in an SROI of 2.44. This means that for every euro invested, a social and economic return of 2.44 euro was generated.

 

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