Housing challenges for cities

Conference

“The State of European cities: the URBAN audit”

Organised by the European Commission

Brussels, 10 June 2008

Claire Roumet, CECODHAS Secretary general

Trends on local housing policiesfrom the social housing perspective

CECODHAS AIM:

ACCESS TO DECENT AND AFFORDABLE HOME FOR ALL

FACTS

1. Housing prices, market trends and social cohesion

2. Housing quality and the new challenge of energy efficiency

3. Some trends in local housing policies (right to housing; capital cities, eco polis….)

A new local housing agenda

1. Housing: not only a tool to ensure social mix and integration of migrants ( but a key playor on energy and sustainable development)

2. Housing governance for territorial cohesion: integrated approaches, integrated partnerships, users perspective

3. New housing culture: change the housing consumption patterns; New housing tenures: Housing use and housing property ; new collective housing schemes

1. Europe’s social and housing realities

•One out of 5 children between 0 and 15 lives is at-risk-of –poverty

(EUROSTAT-2007)

•78 millions out of nearly 500 millions european (EU27) are at-risk-of poverty (EUROSTAT-2007)

•27% of europeans declare that it is not difficult to find an affordable decent housing in a survey carried on in 75 big cities (DG REGIO, 2007)

• most of the statistics are at national level and considering the diverstiy of situation between cities it is not a appropriate tool for local policy makers and citizen

1. Europe’s social and housing realities

Données:2006Source: EUROSTAT

Légende  

  11.6 - 17.7

  17.7 - 20.3

  20.3 - 21.6

  21.6 - 23.5

  23.5 - 25.8

 

•Valeur minimale:11.6 •Valeur maximale:25

Housing spending including water, gaz, electricity –

Á prix courants (% of total household consumption)

•Dominant tenure across the EU (average ca. 65%), but as the next slides in showing, people at-risk of poverty are far from this average (50%)• a housing policy trend to encourage individuals to become home-owner

Housing market trends and the welfare state transformation

Source: Doling (2006)

Housing market trendsand the welfare state transformation

Lith

uani

a

Hun

gary

Est

onia

Slo

vaki

a

Slo

veni

a

Spa

in

Latv

ia

Irel

and

Por

tuga

l

Gre

ece

Mal

ta

Italy

Luxe

mbo

urg

Uni

ted-

Kin

gdom

Bel

gium

Cyp

rus

Aus

tria

Fin

land

Pol

and

Fra

nce

Net

herla

nds

Den

mar

k

Cze

ch R

epub

lic

Ger

man

y

Sw

eden

Social rental

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Social rental

Private rental

Owner-occupied

Source: CECODHAS-USH-Dexia (2007)

Some Housing contribution to the growth and jobs agenda

•Foster citizen mobility:

Diversity of tenure will ensure wider choice for all

•Flexible working contracts:

Flexible rent or mortgage contracts

Energy poverty: a new social challenge

• 40% of energy consumption: residential sector: heating/cooling/lighting

•40% of this consumption for electric appliances (TV, washing machine, refrigerators…) not for heating

•Definition fuel poverty : 10% or more of the household income on fuelAccess to primary goods: fundamental rights: universal access to an affordable price

3 causes:•Poor energy efficiency of dwellings: Housing quality very heterogenous in Europe; 1 out of 5 households in EU10 is confronted with bad quality housing against less than 10% in EU15 (European fondation for the improvement of living conditions)

•Low income

•Energy prices

•But also to be remember (and the Urban Audit shows it very well): still a problem of basic amenities in all dwellings !

Energy: the new social challenge

Percentage of respondents who can't afford to pay for heatingSource: Eurofund. Year: 2003

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Aus

tria

Fin

land

Sw

eden

Den

mar

k

Net

herla

nds

Bel

gium

Slo

veni

a

Ger

man

y

Irel

and

Italy

Luxe

mbo

urg

UK

Fra

nce

Cze

ch

Cyp

rus

Hun

gary

Gre

ece

Spa

in

Slo

vaki

a

Mal

ta

Latv

ia

Pol

and

Est

onia

Por

tuga

l

Lith

uani

a

Source: Eurofound's First European Quality of life Survey, which gives data on percentages of people who cannot afford to pay for heating in the 27 EU member states

Energy: the new social challenge

• Surveyed households were asked to report what percentage of their annual income they spent on heating expenses.The same definition of fuel poverty as the one adopted by the UK Government was applied to the eight surveyed cities:

• Source: World health Organisation, Regional Office for Europe (2007). LARES Large Analysis and Review of European housing and health status (Impact of existing housing conditions on health) Preliminary overview. (year of reference: 2002-2003)

Right to Housing: a new obligation for local authoritiesRights based approach: enforceable housing right

Article 25 of the Universal declaration of human rights

•Enforceable right to housing: a legal tool but supply of housing need to be sufficient

•Also about access to services and social life

•A balance between access for the most vulnerable and social mix

Local housing policies

Three main tools for local authorities:

- Providing land- Local housing markets regulated (by rent control or laws to reduce speculation)- Supply of affordable and social housing

Providing land for housing:Amsterdam owns 90% of the land; Stockholm and Helsinki 70%; Vienna 50%, Berlin 40%; Copenhagen 25%

Rent control/reducing speculation:-Sweden: negociation with tenants organisations (9.9€/m2 in Stockholm), Amsterdam: regulated rent (9.7€/m2); Mietspiegel in Germany (Berlin: 4.8€/m2; Francfurt 9.4; Munchen 11.8); compared to Paris and Milano (20€/m2)

Supply of affordable and social housing-Very ambitious target of 50% of social/affordable housing for any new developments in London, Madrid, Dublin- very diverse stock of social housing: Amsterdam: 60%; Vienna: 45%; Stockholm: 25%

Local housing agenda housing at the heart of social local policies

Europe’s future is define by the word « diversity »; social cohesion is a necessity and housing policies can play a key role: but housing role can not be summarise by its contribution to social mix and integration of migrants: overemphasis on these issues

fighting against housing exclusion and poverty should be included new policy developments encouraging « welfare based on housing assets »; « flexicurity » and « mobility ». Furthermore, housing can be seen as part of the solution

Social housing is still part of the answer, and the sector is ready to take new roles financial supportEnergy supplyIntegrated inclusion strategiesNew support and social services (elderly…)

Local housing agenda at the heart of sustainable development

•But housing dimension of local policies is not restricted to increasing social cohesion in deprived neighborhood

•Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European cities is only referring to social housing policies in the context of deprived neighborhood

•New challenge of energy consumption: housing a unique sector to act at city level: built only eco-friendly homes, support refurbishment to improve energy efficiency

Local housing agenda governance for territorial cohesion

•Governance : the key of success to adapt policies to the needs

•Example of consultation of great London on housing strategy: not only wide but worthwhile because it was reflected in the resulting strategy

•The housing strategy needs to be clear and integrated, to be understandable by everybody and adapted to the neighborhood (example in France with PLU, PLI, ANRU, ZUP….)

•Housing strategy and employment territorial areas are closely linked, governance should also (not always the same local authorities for the hosuing area and the employment area, especially for capital cities

Local housing agenda new housing consumption patterns

•New BAUKULTUR or Habitat culture to be developped: cities have a great role to play and Urban Audit can be a powerfull tool

•It will not be possible to have one singlehouseholds homes with small garden for everybody: new collective habitat forms to be invented and supported

•Mixed owenership; delink between use and property (get a Velib revolution in the housing sector); requisition of empty homes(very high tax in Koln; new scheme to co-finance refurbishment of empty homes if rented socially afterwards in Great London); renew the conception of public space/semi public space; cooperatives (Great London)

How to use Urban Audit•Label « sustainable development »; green cities award: built on AGENDA 21 as a lot of work as already been done

•Composite indicators to illustrate quality of life

• New Lisbon Agenda from Growth and Jobs to Sustainable and social (mobility….): Urban audit to be used

•New Lisbon Treaty: territorial cohesion and quality of life

•Urban Audit should be a tool for local decision makers and citizen to help designing adequate policies, and then should not be focussed on the Lisbon agenda but rather be adapted by local people and should help in identifiying the adequate territorial level for each policies (employment to match the housing and transport areas…)

CECODHAS future activities

•5 November, Paris,

Round table of mayors of European big cities hosted by the mayor of Paris

•1 December, London

Colloquium of the social housing Observatory: “the future of social housing: urban dimension”

Claire Roumet, CECODHAS Secretary General

More on : http://www.cecodhas.org

“Sur la ville, dont les désirs flamboient,

Règnent, sans qu’on les voie,

Mais évidentes, les idées”

Emile Verhaeren, Les Villes Tentaculaires