Reports of Activities

 

Yearbook 2021: Factoring in climate without pricing out people 

Foreword by Housing Europe's President, Bent Madsen and Secretary-General, Sorcha Edwards

Looking back to 2021, a highlight has to be our Housing Europe Leaders' Summit at the UN Headquarters in Geneva where we re-grouped to recover connections and to re-frame housing together in a new (almost) post-pandemic reality. Recovery was also on the mind of the EU Commission who placed social and affordable housing sector high up in their priority list for Member States to fund via the EUR1.2 trillion Next Generation EU Recovery fund. The Housing Europe analysis tracked EUR47.2 billion of the funds to housing in the national plans.

2021 kept our focus firmly on how the sector is preparing to be ‘Fit for 55’ and handle the legislation coming with the EU’s Green Deal. Our Renovation Summit called for a fair, inclusive, green energy transition and we welcomed the Commission’s New European Bauhaus which brought us the tagline ‘beautiful, sustainable, together’, concepts at the forefront of our annual conference and on-line Film Festival.

The European Parliament has joined in as key supporter of our goals with an own initiative report calling for ‘access to decent and affordable housing for all’. The European Commission announced the Affordable Housing Initiative as a social strand of the Renovation Wave and New European Bauhaus. An initiative which showcases our sector as the reference point for a fair energy transition. The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU saw the approval of the Action Plan of the European Pillar for Social Rights, a step which has resulted in a commitment to end Homelessness by 2030 from Member States.

Research and knowledge have re-enforced our position on multiple topics and resulted in an invaluable resource on current trends in our flagship publication on the 'State of Housing in Europe in 2021'. A breakthrough #Housing2030 report by Housing Europe, UNECE, and UN-Habitat showed effective policies for affordable housing in the UNECE region. Thematic briefings showed the state of the art in the sector on ageing well at home, and cost-based social rental housing in Europe is an additional resource generated throughout 2021 by the Observatory as a resource for the network.

Through our EU-funded projects, we have also been working with front-runners from the sector to push the frontiers in applying new methods and approaches to tackle energy poverty, implement one-stop-shops for district renovation, pilot social circular homes, plus energy neighbourhoods and energy communities. We have been testing ways of using data to know buildings better, speed up the decarbonisation and optimise the way the sector finances refurbishment.

Looking back, our challenges in 2021 pale in comparison to the inhumane war we are witnessing in 2022 along with the cost-of-living crisis impacting larger and larger parts of our societies. The work to maximise the impact and effectiveness of our work in the sector is key to bringing resilience in the face of uncertainty for those who need it most.

Let’s continue that work together.

Read on for more details on all the work done in 2021.