Housing Europe

In the Balkans 🏔 New UNECE Housing and Land Management Unit analysis, supported by Housing Europe's Alice Pittini and Edit Lakatos, underscores the urgent need for 🇦🇱 Albania to elevate housing policy as a central focus in creating sustainable and liveable cities. The report is set to help the government overcome the main housing challenges. With Albania being one of the fastest urbanising countries in Europe, the report highlights critical challenges such as the shortage of affordable housing in high-growth areas and deprivation in declining regions. Albania's housing sector, dominated by private homeownership and informal constructions, struggles with a social rental housing sector representing just 0.1% of dwellings. Recent challenges like the 2019 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard, but the economy rebounded with GDP growth of 8.9% in 2021 and 4.8% in 2022. The report also recommends that local governments enhance their capacity and expertise in managing the housing development cycle, including the standards for construction, procurement, and supervision, as well as managing different sources of financing (loans, the national budget, and municipal budgets). Key recommendations include: 🔑 Introducing a robust system of housing allowances with central government support. 🔑 Maintaining the quality and social mix of social rental housing. 🔑 Developing strong partnerships with non-profit institutions to provide social housing. 🔑 Enhancing local capacity and institutional frameworks. 🔑 Launching large-scale social rental housing programs with international financial backing. Read the report to understand the full scope of Albania's housing challenges and discover how strategic policy reforms can improve the situation. https://lnkd.in/eQffxKRP

It is time to stretch our imagination of what is possible in housing. The most transformative ideas often come from a focus on community, sustainability, and equity. Public, cooperative, and social housing providers have proven this time and again. From homes tailored for people with special needs to building with recycled, bio-based, and local materials, and making shared mobility accessible to all —these innovations aren’t just for the few. They must become the new standard. Take a look at just a few of our ongoing projects, where dedication, experience, and EU funding are already making a difference. #NewHousingParadigm #HorizonEU #LIFE #Interreg #socialhousing #publichousing #cooperatives #affordablehousing syn_ikiaEU Green Deal ARV drOp_HorizonEU

In Social Platform's 🎧 new podcast, Housing Europe President, Bent Madsen delves into the critical connection between where we live and our chances in life—whether in the job market, in education, or in securing a stable future for our children. He is witnessing a troubling trend of young adults, even at the age of 35, still living with their parents. However, youth in his homeland, Denmark is not caught in the web of limited opportunities and the well-established affordable housing and social welfare systems play a big role. Bent calls on policymakers to "push forward with all means necessary" to establish decent, affordable homes across Europe. "This isn’t a revolutionary thought—it’s a necessity. Ensuring access to affordable housing is crucial for securing a future where even those with low-paying jobs aren’t left behind," he says. Let’s break the cycle of hopelessness. 🔗 Decent, affordable housing is cornerstone of a hopeful and secure future. #NewHousingParadigm https://lnkd.in/eJRhUdj6

Are you wondering how #wood can be used innovatively in green construction? Then check out the LIFE Be-WoodEN experience!🧑💻 A series of 9 free webinars are now available in Italian, with the English version coming soon. Topics Include: 🔵Life Cycle Assessment and Eco-Design 🔵Introduction to Green Public Procurement 🔵Effects of Humidity on Wood Registration is available here➡️https://lnkd.in/deacpzwp Keep in mind that there will be post-webinar opportunities, such as joining Innovation Labs, Winter School, and Workshops. Read more and apply➡️https://lnkd.in/dnxgAcpX

As of this autumn, the European Union will have its very first EU Commissioner with direct responsibility for housing. This is the commitment from the re-elected European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen. ✅ European Commissioner for Housing ✅ European Affordable Housing Plan ✅ An investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing ✅ State Aid rules will be discussed for revision ✅ Space to double cohesion investments "How has housing become one of the main problems in Europe in the last years?," the journalists are asking us today. What were the red flags?  🚩 New economic and social realities in Europe have pushed people who did not typically require publicly supported housing options in previous generations. They are now struggling to find suitable housing options on the private market. Housing Europe estimated, based on figures by Eurostat, that 9.6 million full-time workers aged 25-34 still lived at home with their parents in 2022, which equates to one in five of all people at this age in the EU.  🚩Rents and housing prices have seen a sharp increase in recent years, outpacing growth in incomes of many households.  🚩A public policy vacuum on housing has been filled by speculative opportunistic investment in many parts of the EU. As a result, we have seen massive housing protests taking place in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, and Lisbon. There is also a growing discontent coming from locals in highly touristic areas where short-term rentals are squeezing every square metre of the areas where jobs and schools are.  🚩Homelessness, as one of the most detrimental outcomes of the lack of affordable housing, has increased by 70% between 2010 and 2020 according to FEANTSA. In short, the housing crisis has deepened so much that we have heard calls from the 🌹 Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, 🌻The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, The Left in the European Parliament, EU Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, mayors, and even Enrico Letta that the European Union has to incentivise socially inclusive and sustainable housing systems. Since January, Housing Europe has been calling on EU policymakers to follow 3 steps to ensure that affordable and decent housing becomes, and stays, a reality for all. 🔴 Our core ask continues to be the recognition and support of public, cooperative, and social housing providers as an invaluable force to counteract inequalities. We continue to insist on the need for a reset and a #NewHousingParadigm where a committed, experienced sector is the backbone, the guiding light on how housing must be delivered. The appointment of an EU Commissioner dedicated to housing policies presents a rare and vital opportunity to address the pressing issue of housing across the 27 EU Member States. Ensuring that this initiative is driven by good forces and principles is essential for the effective realisation of housing as a basic social right for all citizens.

Roberta Metsola, who was just re-elected as the President of the European Parliament, underscored the severity of the housing crisis in Europe and called for the necessary tools to be provided at the European level. "We will leave Europe a better place if we reinforce our social pillar, if we give people hope and dignity where the pensions and wages meet social expectations. We cannot move forward if our youth is unable to rent, let alone buy a place they can call home. Europe’s housing crisis is looming and we must have the tools to help address it even on European level." The EU has a wide variety of tools through which it can either incentivise socially inclusive and sustainable housing systems or exacerbate the current housing crisis. First and foremost, the EU must support public, cooperative, social, and community-led housing as the backbone of national housing systems. This is the sector where green, decent, fair, affordable, and just can co-exist in the same sentence. #1 EMBRACE A NEW HOUSING PARADIGM #2 BACK A MOVEMENT FOR A FAIR ENERGY TRANSITION #3 ADDRESS THE ROOT CAUSES TO END HOUSING EXCLUSION https://lnkd.in/e_sT2mFs

Our voice has been heard. Housing Europe's call to action to lead the way out of the housing crisis during the EU 2024-2029 mandate is even more pertinent following the recent election results. The shortage of decent, affordable homes, affecting many across the continent, poses a fundamental challenge to the EU's core missions: social cohesion, access to quality housing, and regional development. So, in the next five years, what should the new Commission, Parliament, and Council prioritise to bring the EU project closer to its citizens? They must find a long-term solution for the place we cherish most—home. First and foremost, they should support public, cooperative, social, and community-led housing as the backbone of national housing systems. These examples can guide all other housing types. How? 🔴 The EU must establish a new Task Force, led by a European Commission Vice-President, to integrate a new housing paradigm throughout policymaking. 🔴 Implement a transformative fund that harmonizes 19 existing tools and ensures that socially responsible renovations are financially supported annually. 🔴 Make housing exclusion a core component in the impact assessments for EU policies.

In times of post-election uncertainty, it is great to hear that the social bank of the EU, CEB - Council of Europe Development Bank believes "it is a moral imperative for societies to support access to housing, particularly for vulnerable populations."

“Those who live in a cooperative live well and safely - this should remain the case in the future and be possible for more people. […] The cooperative idea must be protected from dubious business models that take advantage of their good reputation,” Axel Gedaschko, President of German housing cooperatives, GdW reminds us. Many cities are weathering the housing storm thanks to their nonprofit cooperative housing estates. Happy international #CoopsDay! 🧡 The Estonian Union of Housing Associations EKYL has been renovating former Soviet buildings at a fast pace thanks to green investment schemes coming in a form of a grant from KredEx. Legacoop Abitanti in Italy is (re)connecting with the youth and communities through culture. In one of Europe’s most expensive cities, Zurich, nonprofit Genossenschaften cooperative housing estates have been on average 15% cheaper than comparable rentals; and even cheaper than equivalent properties in housing-scarce areas. Riksbyggen - Rum för hela livet coops in Sweden are offering special schemes for young households allowing them to become homeowners after renting the apartments for 4 years. This year, Co-operative Housing Ireland is celebrating 50 years of providing secure, high-quality housing and is one of the organisations that offers solutions to the enormous housing crisis in the country. Almost a quarter of Norway’s population lives in co-operative or shared ownership housing. Co-operative Housing Federation of Norway, NBBL’s member is committing to renovating these post-WWII homes to help reduce their impact on the environment, increase cost efficiency and improve the quality of the homes for the people who live there. #CoopsDay #WeAreCoops #PeopleFirst

Congratulations to Billy Kelleher MEP who has just been elected as a First Vice-President of the Renew Europe group at the European Parliament! ⏰ Two months ago, we spoke with him in Strasbourg about what a #NewHousingParadigm could entail. He stressed that "Europe has to take a more active role in ensuring that we have a strategic housing policy that benefits and facilitates the development of social, affordable, public housing and homeownership". MEP Kelleher saw "huge deficiencies in delivering housing" and to him the state and the EU have to step in. Now that the EU elections are a done deal, it is time for EU policymakers to ensure that affordable and decent housing becomes, and stays, a reality for all. Read our 3 steps. https://lnkd.in/e_sT2mFs