A collaborative approach to Social Housing

Submitted by Tedora Aibu on 06 July 2020

Summary of the European Alliance Against Coronavirus Daily Webinar on 03 July 2020.

The European Alliance Against Coronavirus dedicated the session on 3 July to Social Housing. Four speakers took part in the session to provide a general overview of sector and to share with the participants some examples and best practices.

The first speaker, Mathilde Gauss from Kaleidoscoop, shared her experience regarding a cross-border cooperation project between France and Germany. Kaleidoscoop brings together actors in employment, economic development and the social and solidarity economy who, together, will develop new services and activities for the territory and its inhabitants. The project is established in a site next to the Rhine, close to Strasbourg: a place that symbolizes cooperation and exchanges between France and Germany.

Jon Ansoelaga, from the Basque Construction Cluster Eraikune, gave examples of the cluster’s work to innovate housing. ERAIKUNE is a non-profit association of interconnected companies, suppliers, and support agents. The cluster brings together almost a hundred companies in the Basque construction sector and generates 9,000 jobs. The three main objectives are (i) facing social challenges, in terms of accessibility, public promotion and rental; (ii) develop “in-house” technologies and knowledge, such as energy efficiency, construction 4.0 and sustainability and (iii) going international since they are involved in several projects in South America.

Sorcha Edwards, from Housing Europe, gave an overview of more examples of new housing across Europe. Their actions are closely connected to the Green Deal to achieve the right to energy, developing affordable homes, and resilient communities. Social housing can lead the way to a just energy transition through the promotion of renewable energy and the support of a district approach. Social houses need to be efficient, affordable, inclusive, integrated, and financed. Housing Europe acts as an “observatory”. Sorcha shared the data of the European key figures: they are impressive (see video).

Finally, Kim van Sparrentak, Member of the European Parliament, provided her vision from a political point of view. It became clear that there is still much to be done at European level. Housing is a right for everyone, and the market needs to be further regulated and supported on a local level to develop in a green and affordable direction.

A recording of the session is available here 

These are the complete minutes of the meeting: 

20200703 ECA dailyminutes_v2.pdf

Find information on the previous meetings hereinformation on the upcoming agenda here 

Photo by Tom Rumble on Unsplash 

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