ABSTRACT
The development and diffusion of squatting initiatives both in the form of housing projects and Social Centers in Western European countries have acknowledged that migration is a fundamental right that should be defended and supported. Indeed, international migrants have been traditionally the most excluded from the benefits of the welfare state, depicted as a 'threat and danger' to the sustainability of welfare regimes. However, the relevance of squatting for internal migrants has not received much attention, notably in Southern European countries characterized by a severe lack of social housing in the welfare system. The emergence of several squatting initiatives aimed at giving an autonomous response to the lack of public welfare services and rights for students, these initiatives being undertaken since the worsening of the current debt and financial crisis and the consequent adoption of austerity policy measures by both national and local institutions.
