The aim of the paper is to present the current scenario of housing policies, focusing on interventions for rent, on those for the property, as well as on those explicitly defined social housing. The lens with which the different measures are analyzed is that of the recipients, taking into account the access requirements. Specifically we investigate whether social housing is aimed at a narrow segment of the population or on the contrary is presented as an alternative to other pre-existing measures. Given the high fragmentation of housing policies in Italy, our work is limited to the Piedmont Region, but aims to contribute to the current debate on the definition of social housing in Italy.