Remmelt Eldering, the 6-foot-7 Canadian speedskating coach, found his twin bed in Milan’s Olympic Village a bit short. The room, while compact, featured an en suite bathroom and ample under-bed storage, sparking a thought: it would be perfect for a college student.
Indeed, this vision is the future for the village. This cluster of six contemporary concrete buildings, housing 1,175 rooms overlooking train tracks in southeastern Milan, is slated to become student accommodations post-Olympics. On full-length mirrors, athletes are leaving messages for their future student inhabitants, with one stenciled note aptly reading: “From athletes to students, this room has a story to tell.”
The Milan-Cortina Games have largely utilized existing or temporary venues to reduce environmental impact. However, some new facilities have been purpose-built for future conversion. In Milan, this includes an ice hockey rink destined to become a concert arena, and the Olympic Village itself, which is undergoing a transformation into student housing.
For Milanese residents, the village represents a complicated step in addressing the city’s urgent affordable housing crisis. Some see it as a positive move, while others view it as a stark reminder of officials’ perceived lack of commitment to truly solving the issue.
Coima, the Milan-based real estate developer behind the village, has proudly presented it as a significant contribution, promising to provide 6% of the student beds needed in the city. Critics, however, argue that the 1,700 converted rooms will be too few to make a substantial difference in the vast university housing shortage and too costly for many students to afford.
Milan boasts eight universities, attracting more students than any other Italian city. While Italian students traditionally live at home, a growing number arrive from outside the city, driving up demand for rental rooms. Local officials report that 70% of Milan’s 232,000 students are non-Milanese, with international student numbers increasing tenfold since 2010. Despite recent efforts by universities and private developers to build more student housing, there remains a significant shortfall. Currently, the city offers just over 16,000 student beds, a number the Olympic Village will modestly augment.
The developer, Coima, stated that approximately a quarter of the village’s beds—450 rooms with two twin beds—would be considered “affordable” at $700 per month. Other rooms would command higher rents, around $1,265 for a single room and $880 for a bed in a two-bed room. A Coima spokeswoman indicated these regular rents would be 25% below the market average.
However, this definition of “affordable” faces scrutiny. Immobiliare, an Italian real estate platform, reported in 2025 that the average monthly rent for a single room in Milan was about $870. This makes Coima’s regular single rooms approximately 45% more expensive than the average, even factoring in utilities, bike parking, sports fields, and study rooms. Donatella Sciuto, rector of the Polytechnic University of Milan, directly challenged Coima’s pricing, noting her university provides scholarship students beds for about $300 a month, and charges full-fee students around $700 for a single room.
Many of the luxurious Olympic amenities are temporary. During a recent visit, the village was adorned with national flags, and athletes’ practice bicycles were parked outside rooms. One floor, dedicated to Korean athletes, was stocked with instant congee, noodles, peanut butter, and chocolate. Elsewhere, a Samsung-sponsored video game lounge buzzed with activity, and a robot dispensed Olympic pins. Athletes enjoyed beers in cozy, ski-lodge-style huts, with diverse dining options from gluten-free focaccia to roast veal and curry. Canadian speedskating coach William Dutton even recounted mistakenly trying what he thought was pineapple pizza, only to find it topped with potato slices.
After the Games, these vibrant spaces will be converted. Study rooms, kitchens, and gyms will replace temporary lounges and dining halls. Coima confirmed that laundry facilities, currently equipped with just three washers and dryers each, will be expanded to 25 units. Student furniture, including desk chairs, folding tables, and file cabinets, is already stored in the basement, awaiting the transition.
Until next weekend, the site remains exclusively for the Winter Games participants. Anders Johnson, a Canadian skater, shared a humorous anecdote about initially mistaking a bidet in his bathroom for a second toilet, prompting creative ideas for its use among his teammates.
Josephine de La Bruyère also contributed to this report.