Brussels Team
Housing Europe established a Secretariat in Brussels in 2001.
Since then the team has been steadily expanding and is responsible for the coordination of the day-to-day running of the organisation. There are 3 key strands around which the activities are developed:
Policy Formulation & Advocacy | Knowledge Sharing & Networking | Research
Sorcha Edwards - Secretary General
Sorcha is responsible for the institutional relations and the overall coordination of the Secretariat’s work. At the same time, Sorcha is the face of Housing Europe in Brussels and also makes the link between the Board and the rest of the organization’s structure.
E-mail
+32 (0)2 541 05 68
Policy
Julien Dijol - Deputy Secretary General & Policy Director
Julien coordinates the policy work of Housing Europe, monitoring all relevant political developments and drafting the position papers of the organisations. Julien coordinates the work of all Committees and makes the link between them and the day-to-day work in Brussels. Julien also represents Housing Europe in various events, delivering a wide range of presentations.
E-mail
+32 (0)2 541 05 64
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Edit Lakatos - Senior Policy Officer
Edit is part of the policy team, focusing especially on European Funding. She is monitoring all sources of EU financial means that can support the public, cooperative and social housing sector and is responsible for all relevant publications and the respective online portal. Edit is leading on the work of the Working Group on Housing Systems in Transition and also involved in Housing Europe partnerships.
E-mail
+32 (0)2 541 05 62
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Tim Wolters - Policy Assistant
Tim works as an assistant in the policy team, providing support to the other team members by among others writing position papers, monitoring policy developments, supporting meetings, and managing stakeholders. He holds a BSc in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam and a MSc in European Studies from the University of Gothenburg. After his studies, he conducted an internship at our member, the Dutch Federation of Social Housing Associations (Aedes) in the Hague and an internship at the International Union of Property Owners (UIPI) in Brussels, focusing particularly on matters related to sustainability. Tim speaks Dutch and English.
E-mail
+32 (0)2 541 05 62
Johanne Philippe - Policy Assistant
Johanne supports Housing Europe's work with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, more specifically, with the organisation of an upcoming EU-wide conference on housing in Liége in March 2024. She holds a M.A. in European Studies specialised in Public Policy and Administration from Maastricht University, and a Master’s Degree in European Politics from the Institute for European Studies, during which she wrote two master’s theses about social housing from an EU perspective. During her studies, she also worked as an intern for the Brussels office of our French member, l’Union Sociale pour l’Habitat (USH).
E-mail
Research
Alice Pittini - Research Director
Alice leads the daily work of the European Social Housing Observatory, coordinating comparative studies, thematic briefings and articles. As the go-to person for facts and figures around housing in Europe, she delivers presentations in various events that try to make a reality check with what happens on the ground. Alice also works closely with the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the Observatory.
E-mail
+32 (0)2 541 05 66
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Dara Turnbull - Research Coordinator
Dara is the Research Coordinator at Housing Europe, bringing together various strands of our work. This includes the preparation of research for the Observatory, coordinating knowledge sharing with and between our members, as well as working with our Innovation & Projects manager in ensuring the successful participation of Housing Europe in a number of EU level projects. An economist by training, Dara also brings five years of expertise in the area of finance to bear on analysis of issues concerning the financing of social housing and of national and EU funding schemes related to the provision of non-market housing solutions.
E-mail
Innovation
João Gonçalves - Director of Innovation
João Gonçalves coordinates Housing Europe’s innovation team, aiming to drive positive change and fostering new ideas for the development of housing solutions, services or business models that tackle the challenges of public, social and cooperative housing providers, namely within strategic partnerships with members as well as industry, academia, or government stakeholders.
An urban planner by training, João brings in more than 15 years innovation experience in a diversity of organisations including a university, a consultancy and a business association. He is a native Portuguese speaker and speaks English fluently.
E-mail
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Clara Mafé - Innovation and Project Officer
Clara Mafé works as Innovation and Project Officer at Housing Europe. She manages and develops EU-funded projects related to the decarbonisation and climate adaptation of social housing neighbourhoods including positive energy districts; circular retrofits; integrated district renovation and sustainable mobility. Her mission is to make cities more liveable, sustainable and fair places for people through innovation. Before joining Housing Europe in 2020, she gained experience in user-centred innovation in smart city projects through Living Labs at the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). She holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Valencia (Spain) and an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Birmingham (UK).
E-mail
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Margherita Marinelli - Junior Project and Innovation Officer
Margherita joined Housing Europe in October 2022 and now works mainly on projects related to social justice in the green transition which touch upon topics, such as energy poverty and housing exclusion. Additionally, she is determined to help improving cooperation and knowledge exchange in the sector by moderating the mentorship programme and the online community group within the European Affordable Housing Consortium (SHAPE-EU) and facilitating members' access to funding opportunities at the European level. Her background consists of a mix of social and environmental sciences as she holds a BSc in International Studies from the University of Trento in Italy and a MSc in Environmental Policy from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Her previous working experiences in the academic and NGO sectors revolved around environmental sociology and inclusive conservation. Margherita speaks Italian and English and is currently learning French.
Finance
Aurore Leconte - Finance Officer
Aurore is taking care of the finance and administration of the European Affordable Housing Consortium: Sustainable Housing for Social Impact, SHAPE-EU project which is coordinated by Housing Europe. After commuting for 10 years between France and Germany for both studies and work, Aurore worked until 2015 at a European membership-based association as Finance and administration manager. Before joining the team, she specialised further in the non-profit sector and European projects at a tax and accounting consultancy for 5 years. Aurore's mother tongue is French, she’s fluent in English, German, and speaks Italian.
E-mail
Communication & Membership
Diana Yordanova - Communications Director
Diana is leading the external and internal communications work of Housing Europe, including the organisation’s online presence, press relations, event curation, and European projects-related communication activities. She is the go-to person when it comes to journalists’ queries, curating the organisation’s publications, and preparing the monthly newsletter.
E-mail
+32 (0)2 541 05 61
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Andreea-Alexandra Nacu - Communications Junior Officer
Andreea joined Housing Europe in 2021 and took on the mission of supporting the team in its activities related to different European projects through the Horizon2020 programme. She is also responsible for various daily communications tasks. Coming from a background of foreign languages studies, she has dived into the field of digital communications. Having Romanian as a mother tongue, she also speaks English and French. Thanks to several experiences as an intern within NGOs, she is familiar with the challenges faced by the sector.
E-mail
+32 (0)2 541 05 61
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Abderrahim Khairi - Membership and Events Coordinator
Abderrahim is the Membership and Events Coordinator of Housing Europe, focusing on membership engagement, expansion of the Housing Europe family and ensuring that public, cooperative and social housing providers make the most out of being a part of a rich Pan-European network. In addition to that, he is also coordinating the organisation of internal and external events of the Federation. Abderrahim speaks no less than five languages - Italian, Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
E-mail
+32 (0)2 541 05 63