Financialization and the Student Housing Crisis in Bologna, Italy: A Comprehensive Analysis

Abstract: This thesis explores the impact of financialization on university students in Bologna, Italy, who are now facing a housing shortage. The popular university city is currently undergoing a severe housing crisis, presenting significant challenges for students seeking accessible and affordable accommodation. This study aims to understand how financialization exacerbates the housing crisis for Bologna's students and investigates the role of local, regional, and national institutions in this process. To achieve this goal, qualitative research methods were employed, including a literature review and semi-structured interviews. The interview data was analysed thematically, and then, the themes were combined with the findings from the literature review to provide critical insights into the impact of financialization on student housing in Bologna. The research identifies two main financialization processes: systemic financialization, which involves the penetration of financialized logics in urban governance systems, and individualized financialization, which manifests as property owners viewing their houses and apartments as assets. The literature review highlights the increased importance of financial instruments in national, regional and local governments, the entry of private actors in the housing market, and their close relationship to welfare expenditures, whereas the thematic analysis suggests a process of housing assetization linked to property owners’ economic investment mentality, leading them to prefer the short-term rental market over the long-term one for the former’s greater profitability. Regarding students’ experiences, both the rise of the short-term rental market and of private companies in the student housing supply was found to contribute to the further restriction of the housing offer for students, which leads them to experience stressful and frustrating housing searches. Moreover, property owners’ increasingly financialized attitude towards housing was found to have a negative impact on students’ living conditions in the city: students were forced to adapt to overcrowded and low-quality accommodations for the sake of being able to attend the university.