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“We call governments in the EU and beyond to put social housing back at the centre”
The Habitat III conference is the right moment for governments to put social, cooperative and public housing back at the centre of inclusive, smart and sustainable policies in our cities and regions. The ‘Housing for All’ campaign calls indeed for the co-production of policies that will bridge the gap between demand and supply of affordable homes in most European countries.
Housing Europe concludes its ‘Housing for All’ campaign and brings evidence-based proposals to the Habitat III table in Quito that make the case for affordable housing in the centre of the New Urban Agenda. The new housing related policies should be based on Flexibility, Investment and Cooperation. A global commitment drawn on these three axes may ensure that social housing providers are future proofed within a challenging context, so that can keep delivering more and better homes for all at a faster pace.
The Campaign recommendations will be delivered at Habitat III in Quito during the Networking Event: ‘Affordable and Adequate Housing – National Policies and International Coalition in support of Sustainable Development Goals’.
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Shaping together the future strategy & work plan of Housing Europe (*) - Takeaways from the General Assembly 'Ignite Session'
During the General Assembly, the Housing Europe secretariat organised an interactive workshop entitled ‘IGNITE session’.
Its purpose was two-fold: (i) to ensure that the Housing Europe Strategy and Work Plan 2016-2020 are informed and shaped by the Members’ priorities; (ii) to enable capacity building, particularly bringing Housing Europe members together with space to interact and to get to know each other better- what they do, what challenges they face and how they address these challenges.
Read our report
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Housing of refugees in cities: Showcasing the integrating role of housing providers
In summer 2016, Housing Europe has been asked to produce a scoping paper to identify bottlenecks and potential solutions to improve the long-term integration of refugees and non-EU migrants through housing. The paper will be used as basis for discussion at the working conference organised by the Partnership on Integration of Migrants and Refugees of the Urban Agenda for the EU.
Read our Scoping Paper
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Meeting with the European Commission DG FISMA
Basel III and the members of Housing Europe
On 28 October a Housing Europe Delegation is going to meet with representatives of the European Commission Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA). DG FISMA is responsible for initiating and implementing policy in the area of Banking and Finance. The delegation, consisting of members of the Secretariat and of Housing Europe member organisations, including BL, GdW, Aedes, USH and NHF, will discuss the impact of the new Basel rules on bank lending for public, cooperative and social housing providers that will be introduced towards the end of 2016/in early 2017.
Should you wish to contribute to the meeting, please send your inputs to Julien Dijol
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Albania: Sharing experience and advice on housing systems and practice
On 3 October a ‘Housing for All’ themed conference focusing on the ‘Role of Housing Associations from South to North Europe’ took place in Albania, Tirana. The event was organised by the National Housing Agency, a Housing Europe member and the Albanian Ministry of Urban Development in collaboration with Housing Europe.
The event was a first step within the initiative taken by the European Federation of Public, Cooperative and Social Housing to bring experts on housing policy and practice from within the Housing Europe membership or external experts recommended by members to support the process of housing policy development in countries without a strong public, cooperative or social housing sector.
Read more
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Housing Europe and the SDG Watch Europe
On 13-14 October, SDG Watch Europe was officially launched. A new, cross-sectoral alliance of NGOs from development, environment, social, human rights and other sectors whose goal is to raise awareness and hold governments accountable for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs).
Why is Housing Europe participating?
How can Housing Europe members be involved?
Read more on our website
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Housing Europe at EU Urban Agenda Workshop
Housing Europe Secretary General, Sorcha Edwards participated in a workshop dedicated to the Housing Partnership of the Urban Agenda for the EU that took place at the Committee of the Regions within the framework of the European Week of Cities and Regions.
The main event takeaway was that the role of this Partnership as well as of all others established as part of the EU Urban Agenda, is crucial as far as the implementation of the New Urban Agenda is concerned. The severe lack of affordable housing across Europe and the negative impact of this shortage on cities and society calls for a re-think of risks of over-subsidization which are at the heart of EU State aid rules.
Read more
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Covenant of Mayors: A multi-player community to tackle energy poverty
All around Europe, Covenant of Mayors signatories implement local energy and climate actions with the aim to provide their citizens with access to secure, sustainable and affordable energy. Because they hold competencies in key areas, from energy efficiency in buildings to delivery of social benefits to citizens, local and regional authorities play a key role in tackling energy poverty. A conference showcasing their prospects and achievements took place at the European Committee of the Regions in the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities (10-13 October 2016).
Housing Europe Secretary General, Sorcha Edwards moderated along with Professor Stefan Bouzarovski the event that highlighted tenant education and changing mindset as crucial in energy efficiency. At the same time the mayors present stressed the need to continue to use ERDF for renovation of social housing at local level and supported the idea of the profit from community owned wind energy to go into housing retrofit.
Read more
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The European Network for Housing Research: Lessons learnt and a preview of next year
The European Network of Housing Research (ENHR) is one of the largest multi-disciplinary research networks in Europe. It organises a major conference every year. Each time the event takes place in a different country and is organised by a Local Organising Committee (LOC).
Next ENHR conference will be held in held in Tirana, Albania 4-6 September 2017. It is locally coordinated by Doris Andoni and staff from POLIS University in Tirana. The theme of the ENHR 2017 conference is ‘Affordable Housing for all! Redefining the role of public and private sectors’. Mark the date!
The previous event took place in Belfast, N.Ireland, 28 June to 1 July 2016 around the theme ‘Governance, Territory and Housing’.
Read more
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Estonia: EKYL celebrates its 20th anniversary
More than 400 managers of apartment associations, local government officials and leaders from private sector gathered in Tallinn on October 4th, where the XIX Housing Forum for Apartment Associations took place. The Forum is a traditional conference organised by EKYL, an open platform for exchange around the key questions related to housing and apartment associations in Estonia. This year the Forum marked the 20th anniversary of EKYL, the Estonian member organisation of Housing Europe.
More on our blog
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The State of European Cities 2016
A report by UN-Habitat & the European Commission
This survey is addressed to policy makers both inside and outside Europe. To help cities learn from each other, the report compares the performance of cities and provides examples of policies that have worked. It shows the latest demographic, economic, social and environmental trends in European cities. This can promote more evidence-based policy making at the city level.
Make sure you have a look at the Chapter 10 on ‘Housing in Cities’ (p.203 onwards).
Check out the publication
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The continuing importance of fuel poverty among social renters in England: explaining the gap between objective and subjective measures
In his article on the EU Fuel Poverty Network portal, Gerald Koessl, Research Officer of the National Housing Federation (NHF) takes a look at the difference between objective and subjective fuel poverty measures, with reference to social rented households in England and Europe as a whole.
Read more
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MOOC: A Resilient Future - Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction
Starting November 5th, the Cooperation & Development Center at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) will launch its Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): A Resilient Future - Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction. This course aims to introduce participants to existing and emerging technologies suitable for disaster risk reduction while promoting the overall aim of sustainable development. The course focuses on three main natural hazards - floods, landslides, and earthquakes. It is free and open to anyone who has the motivation, persistence, and interest in learning about disaster risk reduction.
Find out more and register online
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HABITAT III - National Report Austria
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is mandated to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. In a bi-decennial cycle, the UN organizes global conference on housing and sustainable urban development: Vancouver 1976, Istanbul 1996, Quito/Ecuador 2016. The Institute for Real Estate, Construction and Housing (IIBW), led by Dr. Wolfgang Amann, has been assigned to provide the Country Report Austria. This also contains a Case Study on the Austrian System of Social Housing.
Read the reports
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The Netherlands: 366 flexible housing ideas
More flexible solutions are required to provide housing to the new group of refugees and other groups of temporary and increasingly mobile citizens.That is the reason behind the Dutch project ' A Home Away from Home' . They launched an award to promote new ideas for temporary housing units and received 366 ideas. Six winners have been selected that will receive their prize during the Dutch Design Week (22-30 October).
A HOME AWAY FROM HOME is an initiative of the COA Netherlands (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) in cooperation with the Government Architect of the Netherlands.
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First pilot projects for Transition Zero in France
At the recent French monitoring committee for the project Transition Zero, the social housing provider Vilogia in Northern France have announced that, with the support of Greenflex (coordinating the activities of the EU project Transition Zero in France) they have launched beginning of October a call for tender to receive proposals from construction/renovation companies in order to get the first French projects under Transition Zero running.
Read more
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BUILD UPON: Leaders' Summit Takes a Fresh Look at National Renovation Strategy Challenge
170 public, private and non-profit sector leaders from 25 countries came together in Madrid for the BUILD UPON Leaders' Summit on 20-21 September. Over two days participants took a fresh and more collaborative look at the challenge of designing and implementing the national building renovation strategies EU countries must deliver by April 2017. The Summit demonstrated that there is a now a thriving cross-sector dialogue on how we meet this challenge across the region; a dialogue that was largely absent during the preparation of the first strategies in 2014.
Read more
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European Responsible Housing Awards 2016
Award Ceremony & Conference, 23 November, Brussels
The time to find out who are the leading housing associations across Europe demonstrating socially innovative practices has come. The Award Ceremony of the second edition of the European Responsible Housing Awards is taking place along with an international conference on 23 November at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
62 best practices from 9 countries have been submitted to the 4 categories that correspond to the core elements of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Find out more & register by 16 November
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Workshop: Renovation of social housing
9 November, Brussels
Housing Europe organises in collaboration with its member organisation in Brussels, The Housing Association of the Brussels Capital Region, SLRB a seminar on the renovation of social housing in Europe.
A half-day workshop dedicated to the different best practices and approaches that are already effective on the ground, accelerating the refurbishment of social homes across the continent.
Find out more
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7th ECTP Conference: Innovative Built Environment
17-18 November, BOZAR, Brussels
The 7th ECTP open conference will be dedicated to present and discuss current and anticipated innovation in the built environment field. Plenary sessions with high-level speakers from academia, industry and the European Commission will introduce the global scheme and visions from various stakeholders. Meanwhile, thematic parallel sessions will address diverse specific issues under the five current challenges of the ECTP. A hall for booths and posters will exhibit examples of innovation expected from European projects.
More information
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