Valuing the Impact of Social Housing Renovation Programs: An Application of the Social Return on Investment (SROI)

Urban regeneration operations refer to complex processes where it is necessary to provide the Decision Makers with integrated evaluation tools, able to consider the multiplicity of objectives and values and to include the opinions and the needs of the different stakeholders involved. In this context, the paper aims at investigating the methodology of Social Return On Investment (SROI), that is a very recent and innovative framework for measuring and accounting for the complex value related to an investment, including social, environmental and economic costs and benefits. Starting from a real—world problem, the paper describes the application of the SROI method for supporting the process related to the requalification of a social housing district located in Rovereto (Italy).