Housing

Our fifth article in our series of articles questions the definition of a just city and the role of housing. It depicts city examples framed by Urban Poverty, Housing, and Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees Partnerships, reflecting on viewpoints and solutions for the future of European housing policies, as well as how cities may benefit from the examples presented.

On January 27th, the City of Vienna organised a webinar on the “Affordable Housing Initiative” of the EU, announced by the European Commission as a cornerstone of its renovation wave strategy. Read the full report and see the presentations from the webinar here!

A workshop on ‘How to implement the right to housing?’ organised by URBACT and UIA on Wednesday 14 October 2020 explored cities’ engagement in the design of housing policies and solution to implement the right to housing.

How can cities build alternative community-led housing models? A web-conference held by URBACT and UIA on 24 April explored how cities implement community-led practices for housing. 300 participants shared their ideas and experiences on how to design alternative housing models that meet the residents needs for safe, adequate and affordable housing.

A lot is currently going on in cities to address housing challenges due to COVID-19. Members of the Partnership on Affordable Housing have listed some examples in this blog.

EUROCITIES have put together a very short survey to exchange preliminary idea of urgent and mid-term measures and policies on housing that can be taken, mainly at local level. You can share your local responses by completing the form by 23 March.

Barbara Steenbergen from the Partnership on Housing discusses the big challenges facing local authorities and city dwellers around the world in this BBC podcast. Have a listen!

After three years of work, the Housing Partnership in the frame of the Urban Agenda for the EU held its closing meeting in Vienna on December 3rd, 2018 and presented its final Action Plan. At the meeting, the partnership discussed the next steps to be taken on the different work strands.

The Housing Partnership in the frame of the Urban Agenda for the EU held its last meeting in Vienna on 3 December, 2018. The result of three years of work of housing experts from cities, Member States, European Commission, EIB, International Union of Tenants and Housing Europe is set of actions and recommendations to the EU legislator. The main aim is to de-block investment in affordable housing.

Which legal and financial conditions are necessary in Europe to increase investment in affordable housing? Which benefits does affordable housing provide for European cities and the economy? Representatives of the EU institutions, politicians from different European cities, housing experts, housing providers, tenants’ representatives and scientists will discuss these questions comprehensively during the Conference. The findings of the EU Urban Agenda – Housing Partnership will be presented while the City of Vienna will offer study visits to present the Viennese model of social housing.

Housing policy in Latvia is one of the most liberal kinds. Its agenda in Latvia is to finish the process of housing privatization, facilitation of energy efficiency, and most recent is to promote rental housing in the municipalities. Housing policy is to a large extent a duty of the State level Ministry of Economy officials; they decide the priorities and major sources of finance. There are more passive players on the state level as well, such as Ministry of Justice. The latter state player is responsible for Court System and all legal processes which are related to property claims and conflicts. Also, the funding which is currently available—EU structural funds for energy efficiency retrofits—are managed by state agency “Investment and development Agency”.

These two initiatives allow for the mobilization of vacant private housing units towards affordable rental housing. Borsa de Lloguer is a mediation program by which the City offers landlords a rental income insurance, a residential multi-risk insurance, as well as support to make renovations in their units in exchange for rent caps for a certain period of time. Hàbitat 3 is a non-profit organization that manages rental units whose use has been temporarily signed over to the City in exchange for certain upgrades. Beneficiaries should be registered as Applicants of Social Housing in Barcelona Municipality which involve criteria related with income limitations or viability and sustainability of households’ applicants among others.

A global celebration of the long tradition of decent, affordable housing for all aiming to generate convincing responses to current and future challenges. A series of events, exhibitions, meetings, field visits, community activities and much more from 13 to 21 June 2017 in Amsterdam will make up the first International Social Housing Festival.

'Social mixity and social cohesion are also acceptable public policy objectives for which State aid may be granted under the 2012 SGEI Decision.' This is what European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager replied to the European Parliament, following questions from the Dutch Member of the Parlement Agnes Jongerius (S&D/PvdA).