People and communities
While technology is important, thinking about the people that consider these buildings their home, is essential.
The projects below are also focused on social innovation, which translates to creating novel financing solutions, enhancing community engagement, and adopting new technologies and methods for construction, maintenance, and management. Social innovation can also include forging stronger partnerships between government, the private sector, and community organizations to develop more inclusive and equitable communities.
Supporting vulnerable households with long-term solutions to paying their bills (SUPERSHINE), creating inclusive smart neighbourhoods and a sense of community through co-design processes (drOp) or putting together an overview of all the root causes of inequality (EqualHouse).
SUPERSHINE
The ambition of the SUPERSHINE project is to implement innovative renovation of social and affordable housing in three demonstrator lighthouse districts in Italy, Denmark, and Latvia as well providing blueprints for follow-up districts.
drOp
The core ambition of the project is the development of an integrated renovation methodology aiming to transform social housing districts into inclusive smart neighbourhoods.
SHARE-North Squared
SHARE-North Squared (SN²) seeks to enhance sustainability and housing affordability by integrating shared mobility to encourage multimodal travel and reduce car ownership, dependency, and parking demand.
BE-WoodEN
The LIFE Be-WoodEN project promotes building decarbonization and circularity by overcoming barriers to using wood and bio-based materials.
SOCIALNRG
The SOCIALNRG project aims to develop, test and validate a novel and fully adaptable approach to be applied in 3 pilot social housing communities in Slovenia, Italy and Belgium.
syn.ikia
syn.ikia aims at achieving sustainable plus energy neighbourhoods while ensuring high-quality indoor environment and well-being.
People and communities
Stockholmshusen – a collaboration project to build thousands of rental apartments
A long-term initiative by the City of Stockholm to accelerate the delivery of affordable rental housing through streamlined planning and procurement. By enabling parallel processes and standardised design, the model cuts development time in half while reducing costs. It demonstrates how strong public coordination can deliver high-quality, climate-smart homes at scale.
People and communities
Socialising vacant public properties for security of tenure and housing stability in Thessaloniki
A pioneering initiative in Thessaloniki that transforms long-vacant public properties into affordable housing for vulnerable households. Led by the Municipal Social Rental Agency, it introduces a new publicly managed housing model in a country with no existing national framework. The project also informs policy reform and scaling through EU funding and national strategies.
Technologies and tech approaches
zero carbon refurbishment - sustainable housing development and affordability
A flagship renovation project in Salzburg showing how climate neutrality and affordability can be achieved together. By combining renewable energy systems, innovative heat recovery, and sustainable densification, it upgrades existing housing without expanding land use. The result is high-quality, low-cost housing with significantly reduced emissions.
People and communities
Kombohus – industrial construction and framework procurement agreements for good affordable housing
A nationwide housing initiative that enables municipalities to deliver affordable homes through industrialised construction and framework procurement. By standardising design and centralising purchasing, it reduces construction costs and speeds up delivery. The model has already supported thousands of homes and helped smaller providers re-enter the housing market.
People and communities
Sostre Cívic
A pioneering cooperative housing model that removes homes from speculation through collective ownership and long-term affordability. Developed in partnership with municipalities, it combines sustainable design, democratic governance, and strong community engagement. The model offers a scalable alternative to market-driven housing while empowering residents.
People and communities
Empowering Lives: A Holistic Approach to Housing Justice
A Housing First initiative providing permanent homes and integrated support services for people experiencing homelessness. By combining housing with employment, health, and social support, it enables long-term stability and reintegration. The project challenges traditional shelter-based approaches and promotes housing as a fundamental right.
People and communities
Life Campus Wolfganggasse
An innovative housing development in Vienna that integrates affordable homes with social services, education, and community infrastructure. Designed as a “living campus,” it supports diverse groups including single parents, youth, and vulnerable residents. The project demonstrates how housing can act as a platform for inclusion, care, and empowerment.
People and communities
The 'new way' to happy healthy ageing
A housing model designed to support older adults through a combination of independent living, care services, and community life. It redefines ageing by promoting autonomy, social interaction, and well-being within a supportive environment. The approach responds to demographic change while maintaining affordability and quality of life.
People and communities
Svartlamon
The project combines affordable, eco-friendly housing with the creation of a strong, community-oriented neighbourhood. Based in Svartlamon, Trondheim, it is led by tenants who have established a housing association and actively participate in governance and decision-making.
People and communities
Providing affordable non-profit social housing in the city of Tuzla
Following the decline of a temporary settlement built in 1996 for displaced families in Tuzla, this project seeks to replace inadequate living conditions with a sustainable solution. Its main goal is to provide affordable, non-profit social housing through expanded leasing options, increased funding, and stronger institutional capacity. The initiative also focuses on improving social and health services, while promoting inclusion and support for vulnerable groups.
People and communities
Yes, We Rent! - Leveraging vacant private property to build up a cooperative affordable housing scheme
The “Lloguem!/Yes We Rent” initiative addresses the city’s shortage of affordable housing through a replicable model that combines public action and community-led governance, offering a practical framework for other cities to follow.
People and communities
Programa Lotes Comivida
A housing programme supporting access to affordable land and enabling community-led development. By empowering low-income households to build and manage their homes, it promotes inclusion and long-term stability. The initiative highlights alternative pathways to housing provision.
People and communities
Residents Assembly & Live the Neighbourhood Programme
A participatory initiative that empowers residents to co-manage their neighbourhood and influence local housing decisions. Through assemblies and community engagement tools, it strengthens social cohesion and local ownership. The project demonstrates how participation can improve both governance and outcomes.
Technologies and tech approaches
Flexwoningen Oosterenk
A flexible housing solution delivering fast, affordable homes for people in urgent need. Using modular construction, it enables rapid deployment while maintaining quality standards. The project responds to increasing housing pressure with adaptable and scalable solutions.
People and communities
Preserving the right to housing, restoring dignity
An initiative that protects vulnerable households from eviction while providing long-term housing solutions. By combining legal support, housing provision, and social services, it restores dignity and stability. The project demonstrates a rights-based approach to housing.
People and communities
Dare to care – The Young Summer Staff Against Violence ProgramHealth Housing: A New Generation of Social Housing for Well-being
A community-based programme engaging young people in preventing violence and improving safety in housing neighbourhoods. Through education, employment, and local involvement, it creates safer and more cohesive communities. The initiative highlights the social role of housing providers.
People and communities
Health Housing: A New Generation of Social Housing for Well-being
A new generation of social housing that integrates health, well-being, and building design. By addressing environmental and social determinants of health, it improves residents’ quality of life. The project demonstrates how housing can actively contribute to healthier communities.
People and communities
Communal Neighbourhood – Support and Security in Everyday Life
A housing model focused on everyday support, safety, and social interaction through shared spaces and community structures. It promotes inclusion and well-being by strengthening connections between residents. The project demonstrates how design and governance can foster strong communities.
Technologies and tech approaches
Haven: Room to Breathe, Space to Grow
A housing project that integrates social support services with affordable homes for vulnerable residents. By combining housing with care and guidance, it supports long-term stability and personal development. The initiative highlights the importance of holistic approaches to housing.
People and communities
Housing Cooperative De Warren
A resident-led cooperative housing project that combines affordability, sustainability, and democratic governance. Developed and managed by its members, it offers a long-term alternative to speculative housing markets. The project showcases the potential of cooperative models in urban development.
People and communities
Gestor Entrada (Entry Manager)
An innovative housing access model that connects vacant homes with households in need through strong municipal coordination. By mobilising underused housing stock, it expands affordable housing supply without new construction. The initiative highlights the role of partnerships in addressing housing shortages.
Technologies and tech approaches
Warmth and Wellbeing
A retrofit initiative improving the energy performance and comfort of existing social housing. By addressing fuel poverty and poor living conditions, it delivers both environmental and social benefits. The project shows how renovation can enhance health, well-being, and affordability simultaneously.
People and communities
Navarra Social Housing Plan – Phase 1
A regional programme delivering energy-efficient and affordable housing at scale through strong public leadership. It integrates climate objectives, industrialised construction, and long-term planning to respond to growing housing demand. The initiative shows how coordinated policy can accelerate both housing delivery and the green transition.
People and communities
Residential area Kirchhof St. Nikolaus
A neighbourhood regeneration project that brings together affordable housing, social infrastructure, and sustainable design. By combining renovation and new construction, it creates a mixed and inclusive community. The initiative demonstrates how integrated planning can strengthen cohesion and improve living conditions.
People and communities
A Housing Body's response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis
The project was designed as a rapid response to the Syrian refugee crisis, providing homes in sustainable communities for displaced families in urgent need of housing. It combined humanitarian action with long-term integration by delivering affordable housing through partnerships with the Irish Red Cross and local authorities. The approach also focused on ensuring that new housing was embedded in sustainable communities, supporting stability and long-term inclusion for refugee families.
People and communities
Community Start up Path - Digital Edition
The digital Community Start Up path, developed by Fondazione Housing Sociale during the Covid-19 pandemic, aimed to maintain and strengthen connections among residents in social housing districts despite isolation and social distancing.
Building on an existing programme of workshops and collaborative meetings, the initiative was adapted into an online format to support interaction, cooperation, and shared decision-making. It enabled residents to continue co-designing the use of communal spaces and organising neighbourhood activities, helping sustain community life and social cohesion during a period of reduced physical contact.
People and communities
Prague Humanitarian Hotels
The humanitarian hotel project in Prague was initially created during the Covid-19 pandemic to protect people experiencing homelessness from infection, reduce virus spread in public spaces, and prevent overload of the healthcare system. Hotels provided safe accommodation alongside hygiene measures and regular testing for guests and staff.
From June 2020, the project expanded beyond emergency response to focus on longer-term social support. It now combines temporary housing with social and health services to improve living conditions and help vulnerable people move toward more stable, permanent housing solutions.
People and communities
"Zuhause ankommen". A sustainable initiative on combatting homelessness in response to the COVID-19.
“Zuhause ankommen” is an Austrian initiative that addresses housing insecurity intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic while advancing long-term solutions to homelessness. Funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, the project uses a multi-stakeholder approach and scales the Housing First model nationally. By lowering barriers to access the housing market, it promotes social inclusion, raises public awareness, and supports the broader goal of ending homelessness.
People and communities
Llar Casa Bloc, homes for inclusion
Fundació Hàbitat3 works to guarantee the right to decent housing for people in vulnerable situations by collaborating with social organisations and public administrations. The Llar Casa Bloc project transforms a former nursing home into 17 housing units for people at risk of exclusion, combining rehabilitation with social support to encourage independent living. It promotes social inclusion and cohesion through mixed housing, transparent allocation to social organisations, and a public–social–private collaboration model, while also raising awareness about the value of rehabilitating historically significant buildings for social housing purposes.
People and communities
Barcelona's framework agreement towards a community land trust
Barcelona’s Framework Agreement between the City and the social and cooperative housing sector seeks to increase the supply of permanently affordable housing in the city while developing a shared governance structure that allows for increased resident involvement in the design and management of the housing stock.
People and communities
Milano 2035 - The Youth Housing Coalition
“Milano 2035 - The Youth Housing Coalition” was founded to increase the Milanese metropolitan area’s capacity for housing solutions tailored to the needs of young people, increasing the number of 18–35-year-olds who can move to Milan or who already reside in the city , can live independently from their families of origin. It is a network comprising 30 public and private entities.
People and communities
Villaggio Gandusio
Environmentally speaking, the project aimed at increasing the resilience of the urban area, using eco-friendly components and materials; to lower the heat island effect, and fight energy poverty. Villaggio Grandusio also set an objective to solve issues of use of indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as to assign concrete functionalities to shared spaces. To boost the community spirit, the project managers wanted to create an identity for the available spaces, improve the attractiveness of the area, increase the sense of belonging and raise awareness of the need to take care of common areas.
People and communities
Empowering tenants to co-create a strategic urban transformation
Himmerland Boligforening’s project aims to physically and socially transform a vulnerable urban district by improving tenants’ quality of life through renovation combined with strong community development. Rather than relying solely on technical upgrades, the housing organisation uses a bottom-up approach that actively involves tenants as co-planners alongside the municipality, local businesses, and associations. The goal is to create a more inclusive and cohesive neighbourhood, strengthen local opportunities, and foster stronger social relations, guided by a shared vision of “the good life” in the district.
People and communities
New Dolphin Park - A regeneration project focusing on a community ageing in place
Fold Housing’s objective is to provide affordable homes and enable residents to age and thrive in their communities. Fold pursues an approach of ‘building communities’ and invests in community services and regeneration, providing support to vulnerable people and reinvesting their income into delivering social and community support. The New Dolphin Park is a regeneration project and an example of Fold’s continued commitment to promoting community development.
People and communities
ToM - Tolerantes miteinander ("living together in tolerance")
The ToM – “Tolerantes Miteinander” project in Berlin-Köpenick was developed to provide a long-term housing solution that fosters integration between refugees and local residents. Moving beyond temporary shelters, the initiative creates a mixed neighbourhood where people from different cultural backgrounds live together as neighbours.
People and communities
Permanent Affordable Housing for elderly homeless people
This project’s goal is to provide permanent, secure, and affordable housing for elderly homeless individuals and couples in small, high-quality public rental units. The initiative also provides social work support to ease the transition from mostly long periods – sometimes decades – of homelessness to independent living, and to help new tenants in accessing the locally available mainstream health and social services.
People and communities
Effective right to housing: an innovative experience of housing first in the principality of Asturias - Spain
"Effective right to housing" aims to eradicate homelessness in the Asturias region by providing public housing and ensuring that homeless individuals become formal tenants with full rights and responsibilities under Spanish rental law. It also seeks to strengthen the role of public authorities in Housing First programmes, improve coordination across different levels of government, and secure an adequate supply of public housing to effectively address homelessness.
People and communities
Achtercairn, Gairloch: regenerating a rural highland community
Communities Housing Trust (CHT) takes a collaborative, partnership approach with communities to provide essential, high-quality and genuinely affordable housing. The village of Gairloch, in the northwest Highlands, is a good example of this approach in practice. The Achtercairn regeneration project grew into a community-led development tailored to local and long-term needs which addressed the social and economic inequality of this rural and remote area, as well as the climate crisis.