The requisition of property is an old legal tool, born in wartime: it was used by military authorities to provide houses, food, and any other kind of support for their troops. During the 20th Century this provision surprisingly extended its boundaries: from a wartime and extraordinary power, it becomes ordinary and it was accorded to any authority to face unforeseen events (for example, in Italy, it has been largely used by mayors to face natural disaster or housing emergency, e.g. La Pira). The paper is intended to discuss if, after the economic and the migratory crisis of the first two decades of 21st Century, the requisition of property may become a component of public social policies, analyzing some acts of mayors and prefects and the cases decided by Italian administrative judges.