One year ago, on June 2nd, YouSocialist was born.

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What is? YouSocialist is a narrative aggregator, a collector of actions and people, a driver of ideas with a strongly progressive soul.

Our mission is huge: give a kick to the progressive narrative in Italy, activate and engage the younger generations. Pursuing for a change that arouse from the bottom. This project, perhaps crazy in Italy, was born from an idea of Lia Quartapelle, Alberto Pontara, Marco Sala. Feps believed in this project and embraced it.

We have two claims: We take Action and Be a Rebel. In this Agora we want to be the Rebels and tell you what we have seen and learned in this one year long journey.

The most titanic plan the EU has ever set up since the Marshall Plan is called Next generation Eu. A plan that looks far and beyond, building today for what’s next tomorrow and the question of generational equity is MASSIVE. Young people have the less secure jobs, troubles in access affordable and decent housing conditions, educational problems and yet the climate change is especially on young people shouldes!

We have a problem in Europe and it is a generational problem: there can be no equality if there is no freedom for everyone to pursue their own idea of happiness.

I put a question. At what point are we to allow everyone to pursue their own personal life plan and how?

The inaccessibility to the house is for YouSo the worst issue we faced. Be able to have a home means to move towards independence, to put down roots, to make long-term projects. We do believe that studying whether or not you can afford your own home (not a room) is CRUCIAL for European policymakers. Why? Because housing has a holistic or better, has an intersectional dimension, it brings together many critical issues:

Lets say them out loud.

Low incomes and  employment. Be able to afford a home is linked not only to the quality of the job, if it’s paid well or not, there is also a theme of which kind of contract you have. In the 21st century jobs are no longer as strong as they were in the past century. Nowadays jobs, the work system is fragmented, precarious, digital, and so on… this is a crucial social factor that impact accessibility, because landlords (or banks) are less trusty with precarious employment contracts.

Gender…here we are. Women, are less paid than men, a factor that leads to a further exclusion and discrimination. But there is more to tell, women have different behaviors: they are more likely to move with public transport and to choose safer neighborhoods, and these behaviors impact directly on where to live, how to choose a home. Typically those kind of neighborhoods are more expensive.

Work mood and nomadism. Smartworking is a working methodology that is often used by young people because… because they are freelance. Working from home it’s ok, but which kind of home? It could be in the suburbs, in smaller, less expensive, more accessible cities. It could be, could be an option but…what about infrastructures?

And then my fav one. There is the huge big issue which is called gentrification and all the bad stuff sharing economy did to the real estate market. Especially (but not exclusively) to big affluent and touristic cities. Big deal.

The last point is all about social exclusion in the crib. If it’s true -and it’s true- that the next Gen Eu is the poorest generation ever, those who are not born in well-off family are in the worse conditions, as they can’t even think about a better future.

Of course, we don’t have The Solution, but we are good in asking question. WHERE IS WELFARE? It is alive but WE NEED TO INNOVATE IT ON CONTEMPORARY BASES, ON TODAY’S DATA because housing is a right and it is a kind of testing fact of the democratic situation of our countries.

A Rebel of us, Flavia Restivo, wrote on YouSocialist “I think it is no longer enough to say “young people are the future” it is necessary to put it into practice.”

About Housing, we believe that a European plan should be made within the framewok of the European Youth Strategy. Moreover is needed at single states level propose and impose wide, national and structural regulations

In particular:

1. Act in regulating the real estate market by finding a solution to its major dysfunctions that enriches the richest and certainly not the percentage of owner families.
2. Act in Promoting new housing solutions -which could facilitate solidarity between generations by joint together the two most vulnerable groups: the young people and the elderly – co-housing is a good example.
3. Act at Communities, cities and neighbourhoods levels because they are the best practices from which to find inspiration around Europe.

We have a problem and we must solve it together in a STRUCTURAL and common  way, short-term solutions aren’t the answer.