Comune di Trento

Procedures in the housing domain present several complexity factors that make them an ideal use-case for SIMPATICO.

Citizens with special needs. The housing office also deals with request for subsidized housing. Often these requests come from citizens who are economically or culturally disadvantaged. For example, in 2013 more than half of the requests for subsidized housing came from non-EU citizens: the language barrier does not only make the interaction difficult but also makes it complicated for PA employees to offer help. Many other requests are presented by elderlies or people with poor literacy skills. Having a system that tailors the interaction to the special needs of each citizen would help tremendously the PA employees and make the interaction faster and easier.

 

Complexity of laws and regulations. Request for building permits are presented by both construction companies and citizens. The documents requested are very complex and very difficult to interpret, even by professionals: for example, in 2013 there were 302 requests to start construction works on new buildings but more than 1200 integrations to the requests were needed because the original request was incomplete or contained mistakes. The procedures are so complex that most of the time of the municipality employee is spent helping private citizens and professionals fill in forms and explaining them the procedure and regulations that are completely unclear. The current procedure is inefficient and imposes a heavy administrative burden on citizens and construction companies.