 In 1998, only 20% of the Italian housing market was rental; middle- and high-income families preferred to buy their home, while low-income families that could not afford to buy suffered from high rents.The 1998 Rent Act tried to revitalise the rental sector by liberalising maximum rents and allowing rental conditions to be set by landlords’ and tenants’ organisations.The problem of unemployment has been moderated in Italy by governmental benefits, in the form of cash transfers based on contributions ("indennità di disoccupazione").