Venice, a municipal referendum on short-term rentals is coming

A municipal referendum on short-term rentals in Venice will be launched by the "Whole city together" movement, which will constitute the promoting committee in the next few days. This was announced by the president of the association, Giovanni Andrea Martini, former mayoral candidate and former city councilor.

The promoting committee, Martini informs, will be made up of 100 citizens, the first step foreseen by municipal regulations for a popular initiative referendum. Once the admissibility of the question has been obtained, the collection of the 5,000 authenticated signatures necessary to formally request the consultation will begin.

The public presentation of the committee and the initiative will be held during the days of the Venice International Film Festival. "It will be an opportunity - comments Martini - to launch a campaign that does not want to pit residents and visitors against each other, nor question the right of owners to legitimately use their properties. The question is another: how many houses do we want to remain homes? If a growing part of the housing stock is taken away from permanent residence to be allocated to the tourist market, the problem no longer concerns only individual owners or economic operators: it concerns the future of the city".

For Martini "for too long the discussion has been left to the operators of the sector, the platforms and the owners.

We want to put those who live, study, work and want to continue living in Venice back at the center. This is why we will bring the issue directly to the citizens through the referendum."