What supra-national institutional tools and frameworks are required to tackle the housing problems experienced in European cities?
In the face of pressing urban housing challenges across the globe, a “Municipalist Declaration of Local Governments for the Right to Housing and the Right to the City”, entitled “Cities for Adequate Housing”, was presented at the High Level Political Forum that took place at the United Nations (UN) in New York in July 2018. The Declaration, which demands more resources and competences for cities to provide adequate housing for their citizens, was signed by dozens of cities from different continents and is continuing to receive new endorsements.
This policy-oriented seminar will examine how to operationalize the Declaration in the context of the European Union (EU). Bringing together experts, practitioners and policy-makers, the objective is to discuss how the general demands outlined in the Declaration can be translated into more concrete regulatory and policy proposals and practices at EU level. The seminar forms part of a wider process of developing and adapting the Declaration to the regional level. What supra-national institutional tools and frameworks are required to tackle the housing problems experienced in European cities?
Gerardo Pisarello, First Deputy Mayor, Barcelona City Council
Pol Morillas,Director, CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs)
This session will focus on both “hard law” and “soft law” measures and on the institutional configuration of the principle of subsidiarity, so that municipal governments can employ the necessary instruments to guarantee the social function of the city, from rent controls to regulations tackling the non-residential uses of housing units, amongst others.
Elena Szolgayová, Coordinator, EU Urban Agenda Housing Partnership; Director General, DG Housing Policy and Urban Development, Ministry of Transport and Construction, Slovak Republic
Sven Bergenstråhle, President, International Union of Tenants
Comments from cities:
Paula Marques, Lisbon Housing Councillor
Marco Guerzoni, Bologna Housing Policy Officer
Syamak Agha Babaei, Municipal Councillor, Strasbourg; Vice-President, Strasbourg Eurométropole
Moderator: Amanda Flety, Coordinator, Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights, Secretariat of the UCLG
Debate between participants
This session will focus on the institutional, fiscal and financial mechanisms required to strenghthen the european public housing stock, as well as to promote limited-profit and non-profit operators and community-driven alternative housing.
Susanne Bauer, Senior Housing Researcher, City of Vienna; Chair, Eurocities Working Group on Housing
Ruth Owen,Policy Coordinator, European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA)
Ivan Tosics,Managing Director, Metropolitan Research Institute (MRI), Budapest
Filipa Roseta,Cascais Councillor for Territorial Management
Marcus McPhillips, Senior Housing Policy Officer, Greater London Authority
Debate between participants
Lorenzo Vidal, Researcher, Global Cities Programme, CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs)
