Territorial Impact Assessment for evaluation of Territorial Cohesion Policies: the STeMA-TIA 3.0 and social housing in Italy

The impact analysis and the identification of the most effective policy recommendations in order to set or refocus investments in Regional (ROP) or National Operating Programmes (NOP) is one of the most important challenges in the EU cohesion policy but no agreed standard methodology has been identified so far. To the scope, the Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) methodological approach is argued to be one of the most important in accompanying the policymaker in related decision-making processes. The strength of this approach lays in the importance of place evidence, and in the capacity of reading geographic complexity of territories starting from the basis of their specific different features. Moreover, it is shared the opinion that a ‘good’ TIA needs a powerful data support (analytic and cartographic) and qualitative-quantitative models to associate judgments, in response to the questions to which evaluation is required, including the development and comparison of policy options supporting policymaking (Prezioso 2018, 2019). During the initial analysis and tests of the STEMA Model (Prezioso 2018a, 2019, 2020) with regards to the methodology implementation, Social Housing and Social Affordable Housing policy sectors have been included in the assessment process. They are part of the Italian NOP 2020 named “Governance”.