Reports of Activities

Yearbook 2022: EU's growing recognition of housing need 

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

2022 was a year when the Housing Europe managed to reunite the housing community together in real life during the 3rd International Social Housing Festival in Helsinki and the second Renovation Summit in Brussels. In spring, we have been invited as the only external organisation to sit at the table with housing ministers in Nice thanks to the initiative of the EU French Presidency to restart the conversation between leaders after long 13 years. In early spring, Housing Europe was also recognised as the organisation and sector that can show the way forward to the European Affordable Housing Initiative through a consortium that is demonstrating how 'lighthouse' district renovation can really be for all.

At the same time, the ending year was marked by tremendous difficulty for the people of Ukraine where the war is destroying millions of homes, a harsh reality that is having a severe impact on energy security and causing a cost of living crisis for households, especially for many of the households public, cooperative, and social housing providers cater for. Unprecedented increases in material prices are slowing down or even bringing renovation or building projects to a halt at a moment when CO2 emission reduction and the provision of more affordable housing are incredibly important for the environment and for society's good.

We clearly see policymakers' increasing attention on our sector and the growing energy to do better. However, we also remain aware of the blind spots. It is our joint task to ensure that we make the best out of this momentum and channel this energy towards empowering tenants and residents, and the organisations that offer them much more than a roof.