The European Union’s budget rules — which hold member states to running an annual budget deficit of no more than 3 per cent of the size of their economy, and overall debt levels of below 60 per cent of GDP — are sometimes cited as a reason why the Irish Government could not undertake large-scale borrowing to build social housing.

The small (but increasing) number of state-of-the-art circular public and social housing projects now prove that the is significant potential for cost savings for housing providers by moving from a ‘linear’ to a ‘circular’ model. Renovations are an opportunity to go the extra mile and upgrade resource use and management. Undoubtedly, besides shifting its perspective, the housing world needs to think about the cost behind the green transformation, especially when the raison d’être of public, cooperative and social housing providers is to offer homes that are good for the pocket and for the environment

Just a few months after the 2020 US Presidential election, a new day dawned regarding President Joe Biden and the federal government’s stance on affordable and social housing, Joshua Crites from Washington County, Oregon writes for Housing Europe's blog. Josh is an American Social Housing professional. He currently is the Assistant Director for a social housing organization in the Portland, Oregon metro area. He spent time working in and researching affordable housing and social housing in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Portugal and Estonia.