Calabria offers free housing for 10 years: terms and deadline

Authorities in Italy’s Calabria are offering new residents 50 houses and apartments they can live in for ten years without paying rent. Applications are open until December 18, and citizens of other European Union countries can take part.

Residents will not pay rent, but they will furnish the interior themselves, pay utility costs and contribute to the upkeep of the property. The project covers 26 municipalities, each with fewer than five thousand inhabitants.

What participants get

According to Italian media, the regional government has set aside 20 million euros (487 million crowns) for the campaign. The money has already been used, or will be used, to renovate 50 houses and apartments, ranging from two-room flats to houses with 140 square meters of living space.

That sets it apart from schemes in Sicily, Sardinia, Apulia or Piedmont, where buyers get a dilapidated property for a symbolic price and repair it at their own expense. According to the project’s website, Alessandria del Carretto is offering a two-room apartment of 52 square meters, San Floro a four-room house with a panoramic view, Gigliano a house of 85 square meters, and Rovito a municipal building with three separate apartments.

The idea behind the project, under the slogan “Calabria offers you a home,” was promoted by regional president Roberto Occhiuto. “Come and live in Calabria for zero euros. You can choose one of the first 50 homes,” he said, addressing those interested.

Conditions for applicants

Applicants must be people over 18 who have lived outside Calabria for at least three years, including citizens of other EU countries. Participants must live in the home provided for at least ten years and register their official residence there. Renting the property out is strictly prohibited.

Occhiuto promises that the selection will be transparent and based on a points system. Factors taken into account will include, for example, the applicant’s profession and whether a family with children is applying.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz