Remmelt Eldering, a towering 6-foot-7 Canadian speedskating coach, finds his Olympic Village twin bed a bit short. His room in Milan’s athlete accommodation is compact, not ideal for team gatherings, yet he notes its potential as a student dorm, complete with an en suite bathroom and smart under-bed storage. This is no coincidence: the village, a complex of six pale concrete buildings featuring 1,175 rooms overlooking train tracks on the city’s southeast, is specifically designed for a post-Olympics transformation into student housing. Athletes are even encouraged to leave notes for future student residents on the full-length mirrors, with one message already stenciled: ‘From athletes to students, this room has a story to tell.’
The Milan-Cortina Games largely utilize existing or temporary venues to minimize environmental impact. However, some new facilities, like an ice hockey rink destined to become a concert arena, and the Olympic Village itself, have been purpose-built for future repurposing. This approach aims to leave a lasting legacy for the city.
From a spacious dining hall where members of Team France enjoy meals to a brightly lit laundry room in the Team Canada residential area, the village currently serves the needs of elite athletes. Once the Games conclude, these spaces will adapt to student life.
For Milan residents, the Olympic Village represents either a beacon of hope in the city’s dire affordable housing crisis or a stark reminder of officials’ perceived lack of commitment to resolving it. Coima, the Milan-based real estate developer behind the project, champions the village as a significant contribution, providing 6% of the student beds needed. Critics, however, argue that the number of converted rooms is too low to make a substantial difference, and worry that many students will find the rents prohibitive.
Milan, with its eight universities, attracts more students than any other Italian city. While many Italian students traditionally live with their parents, a growing number arrive from outside Milan, fueling a surge in demand for housing. Local officials report that 70% of the city’s 232,000 students are non-Milanese, with approximately 17,000 hailing from abroad—a tenfold increase since 2010. Unlike many American universities, Italian colleges typically do not provide on-campus room and board. Although some universities and private developers have recently added student accommodations, a considerable deficit remains. Currently, Milan offers just over 16,000 student beds; the Olympic Village will add 1,700.
Indeed, some rooms at the Olympic Village, designed more like hotel suites, highlight the stark difference in student housing standards. This image contrasts with the traditional lack of university-provided dorms in Italy. The very existence of this new complex has intensified the debate on whether Milan’s officials and developers are truly committed to solving the city’s affordable housing crisis.
Coima has designated about a quarter of the village’s beds—450 rooms, each with two twin beds—as ‘affordable’ at $700 per month. Single rooms are projected to rent for about $1,265 monthly, and beds in two-bed rooms for around $880. A Coima spokesperson, Nicole Zancanella, stated these regular rents would be 25% below the market average. However, Immobiliare, an Italian real estate platform, reported an average monthly rent of about $870 for a single room in Milan in 2025, suggesting Coima’s regular single-room rents could be 45% higher than the market average. It’s worth noting that Coima’s prices include utilities, bike parking, sports fields, and study rooms.
Donatella Sciuto, Rector of the Polytechnic University of Milan, contests Coima’s definition of ‘affordable.’ Her university, for example, offers scholarship students beds for approximately $300 a month, while full fee-paying students pay about $700 for a single room. Many of the Olympic amenities, such as the elaborate food stations offering everything from gluten-free focaccia to roast veal, and the Samsung-sponsored video game lounge, are not expected to remain after the conversion. Canadian speedskating coach William Dutton even recounted mistakenly trying what he thought was pineapple pizza in the dining hall, only to find it topped with potato slices.
After the Games, these temporary features will be replaced by permanent study rooms, kitchens, and gyms. Laundry facilities, currently equipped with just three washers and three dryers per area, will be expanded to 25 washer-dryers post-conversion. Student furniture, including desk chairs, folding tables, and file cabinets, is already stored in the basement, awaiting the new academic year. Until next weekend, however, the site remains exclusively for the Winter Games participants. Skater Anders Johnson from Canada humorously noted his initial confusion over what he thought were two toilets in his bathroom, only to discover one was a bidet. ‘We were coming up with creative ways to use the other one,’ he quipped.
Josephine de La Bruyère also contributed to this report.