Yesterday, we shared our message on community-led collaborative housing solutions and prevailing systemic gaps at the Conference on affordable housing, organised by the European Parliament and the European Commission to address the housing crisis in the EU and lay the foundation for a comprehensive and inclusive European Affordable Housing Plan.
Representing the European Alliance for Collaborative Housing, a growing coalition initiated by MOBA SCE, urbaMonde, NETCO project, Sostre Cívic and Red Vivienda Cooperativa, we spoke out of our aggregated experience, knowledge and determination, advocating for:
- EU policies and financial instruments that are designed in a way that encourages and supports bottom-up initiatives;
- recognition of housing cooperatives as a model that diversifies affordable housing, enhances the urban and social value of space, serves as a launch pad for social innovation in other sectors such as civic energy, car sharing, urban agriculture and green building;
- removing barriers to financing for collective ownership models and an end to excluding cooperative members from employment support schemes;
- creating a system of support for the establishment of new financial institutions at all levels – local, national, regional, European – willing to finance community-led affordable housing;
- strongly supported a suggestion for enabling municipalities to directly access EU funding.
Some of our collaborators were also present, including colleagues from the European Community Land Trust Network and Habitat for Humanity; our insights should be part of forming the basis for a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to affordable housing policy.
The conference was opened and moderated by Dan Jørgensen, Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Irene Tinagli, Chair of the European Parliament Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union, and Matthew Baldwin, Head of the European Commission’s Housing Task Force.
The Commission is also working with the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group to develop a new pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing, but it remains unclear whether this instrument will be accessible to bottom-up affordable housing efforts without new intermediaries.
Next steps announced by the Commission:
- April: Call for evidence for the European Affordable Housing Plan
- June & October: Public consultation
- April-December: Themed expert seminars and hearings
We will continue to advocate for collaborative housing to be substantially recognised and supported by emerging policy developments and financial instruments as they are severely underfunded and underrecognised despite being the most empowering models of affordable housing rooted in long-term affordability, social cohesion and inclusion, and environmental sustainability.
