Housing Europe

18/08/2026

What if a community garden could actually be a first step in preventing conflict?
That's part of what the cooperative Diversity in Housing project is testing in Gratwein, Austria. 🇦🇹

Sometimes, we don't need a multi-step plan to address conflict. Problems often grow when they are pushed out of the way. But what if, instead, we brought them out into the fresh air, perhaps while planting a flower or getting our hands dirty in the garden?

The Styrian initiative zusammen>wohnen< works with residents and property managers from the outset, creating opportunities for proactive communication and structured dialogue rather than waiting for tensions to escalate.

By giving people the space to get to know each other, talking about the things that affect living together can become a little easier.🕊️

Read more inspiring housing coop stories from this year's International Day of Cooperatives ➡️ https://www.housingeurope.eu/2026-international-day-of-cooperatives/

Co-operative Housing International, Cooperatives Europe

23/07/2026

Reducing Europe's dependence on imported fossil fuels, strengthening energy sovereignty, improving competitiveness and delivering on climate objectives all require a well-thought and well-funded transformation of Europe's homes.

⚡ ⚡ ⚡ For public, cooperative and social housing providers, the objective is broader than electrification alone - it is to decarbonise Europe's homes while keeping them affordable. Electrification will be a key driver of this transition, but it is not an end in itself.

“Public, cooperative and social housing providers are uniquely placed to make this happen. Together, Housing Europe's members own and manage more than 26 million homes across Europe and are already delivering the energy transition at scale. From deep renovation programmes and renewable energy projects to energy communities and neighbourhood regeneration, they demonstrate every day that climate action, affordability and social inclusion can go hand in hand. Success should therefore be measured not only by the technologies deployed, but by the ability to reduce emissions, lower energy bills and build more resilient communities.” says Marco Corradi, President of Housing Europe.

Read our perspective here: https://www.housingeurope.eu/electrification-and-beyond-a-public-cooperative-and-social-housing-perspective/

04/07/2026

Across Europe, the value of peace, security and a place to call home feels more important than ever. Housing cannot solve everything, but good homes and strong communities are part of the foundation of peaceful societies.

Today, on the International Day of Cooperatives, we celebrate this year’s theme: Cooperatives for a Peaceful World 🕊️

cooperatives may come in many shapes and forms, but they are rooted in shared principles: democratic control, member participation, mutual support, collective responsibility, affordability, solidarity and long-term commitment to communities.

Good housing is part of the foundation for peaceful societies. Secure and decent homes, inclusive neighbourhoods and stable communities create places where people can participate, support one another, build trust and plan for the future.

In Europe, cooperative housing shows what these principles look like in practice — from residents greening their streets in 🇩🇰Copenhagen, to creating safe spaces in 🇪🇸Spain, to housing communities tackling loneliness in 🇸🇪Sweden, strengthening participation in 🇮🇪Ireland, creating spaces for dialogue in 🇦🇹Austria, and renovating homes sustainably in 🇩🇪Germany.

Cooperative housing is one vital part of the wider public, cooperative and social housing ecosystem working every day to keep people, affordability and community at the centre.

On , we celebrate the cooperative values that help create homes and neighbourhoods where people can thrive, and where more peaceful communities can take root.

👉 Read the stories that we collected from across Europe: https://www.housingeurope.eu/2026-international-day-of-cooperatives/

Have a cooperative housing story to share? We’d love to hear how your community is putting cooperation into practice. Get in touch to contribute 🏘️

ABF, HSB, Co-operative Housing Ireland, Wohnungsverein Hagen eG, Sostre Cívic, Coop4PEDs

Co-operative Housing International, Cooperatives Europe, International Cooperative Alliance

What does housing have to do with peace? Each year, the International Day of Cooperatives celebrates the contribution of cooperatives to tackling global challenges. This year's theme, "Cooperatives for a Peaceful World", recognises that peace is built not only through diplomacy, but also through str...

21/05/2026

While the Responsible Housing Finance group meets in Budapest, our Communications Director Diana Yordanova sat down with MEP Irene Tinagli at the European Parliament to ask how the EU’s next 7-year budget can help ease the housing crisis Europe is facing.

Housing Europe has been calling for €100 billion for public, cooperative, and social housing in the EU’s next long-term budget because the numbers no longer add up for housing providers in Europe. Renovating ageing buildings has become significantly more expensive in recent years, from construction materials and labour costs to the new energy efficiency standards Europe rightly wants to achieve.

Demand for affordable housing keeps rising in every Member State, leaving providers under pressure to both renovate existing homes and build new ones at scale.

We estimate that €100 billion would still cover only around one-fifth of the sector’s additional investment needs, but it would send a strong signal that Europe is ready to treat housing as the defining social challenge it has become.

19/05/2026

Europe’s housing crisis may be shared, but housing systems differ across the continent. How can we design governance systems that maximise the absorption of EU funds by the public, cooperative, and social housing sector?

On 21 May in Budapest, Housing Europe, MR Housing Fund and the Metropolitan Research Institute - Városkutatás Kft will bring together during a workshop housing providers, public authorities, financial institutions and experts to discuss a timely question: how can European housing ambitions translate into practical solutions at local level?

The workshop takes place at an important moment. As the Recovery and Resilience Facility comes to an end and discussions advance around the next EU budget cycle (MFF 2028–2034), housing is moving higher on the European agenda through initiatives such as the European Affordable Housing Plan and the upcoming Pan-European Investment Platform.

But the discussion is no longer only about whether funding exists.

As Sorcha Edwards, Europe’s Secretary General, recently stressed, the challenge is also to “get the investment right”: creating financing and governance systems that can deliver long-term affordability, support sustainable neighbourhoods, and avoid speculative dynamics.

Drawing on the findings of hashtag , the Budapest workshop will explore how different countries structure affordable housing systems through the interaction of:
🔹governance,
🔹finance,
🔹land,
🔹and sustainability frameworks.

Hungary offers an important perspective for this exchange. While homeownership remains dominant, new initiatives such as the MR Housing Fund are contributing to the development of the social and affordable rental sector and raising broader questions around investment capacity, institutional frameworks, and long-term housing delivery.

The discussions will focus on practical questions:
🔹What governance and financing models actually work in practice?
🔹What can realistically be adapted to different national and local contexts?
🔹How can municipalities and housing providers prepare for emerging EU investment opportunities?
🔹And how can European-level tools effectively support housing delivery on the ground?

The workshop is organised as part of Housing Europe’s European Responsible Housing Finance Working Group, launched in 2023 to strengthen peer learning, investment capacity and exchange on sustainable housing finance systems across Europe.

Photo credit: MR Közösségi Lakásalap

11/05/2026

For 100 years, the tenants’ movement, International Union of Tenants (IUT) has defended a fundamental idea that housing is not a commodity like any other.

What is interesting is that two forces that are often presented separately can, in reality, only evolve together. On one side, the representation and protection of tenants and workers. On the other, the capacity to provide concrete truly affordable housing solutions at scale. The history of social housing shows that progress happens when both dimensions reinforce each other.

This is why the relationship between tenants’ organisations and social housing providers matters so much. Few actors have been as consistently aligned with tenants’ interests as social and public housing providers. Not because there were never tensions, but because over decades they built something more valuable called structured cooperation, continuous dialogue, and the ability to improve systems through negotiation rather than confrontation alone. Both sides want to listen to each other, and this is not a given in housing provision.

As our President Marco Corradi said during the celebration of IUT in Sweden, "For one hundred years, our idea of housing—yours as a union, ours as a social housing system—has been rooted in people’s real needs. Needs that evolve over time. Today, we are called to profoundly redefine this idea, as we face a historical turning point comparable in scale and complexity to the major transformations of the past."

The most resilient housing systems emerged where organised tenants, public authorities, and mission-driven housing providers learnt how to work together.
At a moment when housing is increasingly financialised and disconnected from social realities, that lesson deserves renewed attention.

23/04/2026

In a time marked by wars on the continent, rising living costs and growing social tension, housing policy sits at the centre of Europe’s social contract.

It is against this backdrop that Housing Europe’s Annual Conference will gather housing leaders, policymakers and practitioners on 5 June (9:30–13:00) in Trieste, Italy to explore how Europe can build better housing systems by learning from one another.

Organised by the voice of public, cooperative, and social housing providers, Housing Europe in close collaboration with the Italian public housing federation, Federcasa, and the country’s oldest public housing authority, Ater Trieste, the event will focus on practical solutions that can travel across borders, from West to East and back again, while addressing the structural imbalances that continue to shape housing systems across Europe.

Public, cooperative, and social housing leaders are already working together on how to rebuild housing in Ukraine, exploring ways to establish revolving funds for sustainable investment, and sharing strategies to bring vacant homes back into use and to boost inclusion and quality of life in neighbourhoods. These exchanges reveal that Europe’s housing future will increasingly depend on shared knowledge, solidarity and cooperation.

If Europe is to respond to the housing crisis, it will need more than plans and programmes, it will require leadership, hope and the determination to do better and faster with a 💜 social heart.

Register and be with us.
https://www.housingeurope.eu/evenement/from-west-to-east-building-a-brighter-housing-future-annual-conference/

02/04/2026

Understand French social housing from people on the ground

Several countries have developed robust policy and financial mechanisms to regulate housing markets and ensure access to affordable, secure homes.
France stands out with a highly structured system that combines public oversight with long-term financing tools.

Register for the conference of French Social Housing Union [L'Union sociale pour l'habitat] organised with the support of Housing Europe on April 20 (14:30-18:30) at the Permanent Representation of France in the EU.

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/HFeUwE43nD

We will offer first-hand insights into how these mechanisms work in practice. It will spotlight concrete models such as the Livret A savings scheme, which mobilises regulated household savings to finance social housing at scale, and the French financing ecosystem that channels funds from the European Investment Bank and the Caisse des Dépôts into sustainable, mission-oriented housing providers who have been housing people in need for decades.

By unpacking how these instruments operate - who finances, who builds, and who benefits - the discussion will draw practical lessons for shaping a stronger European approach to housing investment and policy.