Welcome to Housing Europe, Enti Kombëtar i Banesave (EKB)!

The National Housing Agency was established in 1993 as a self-financing institution under the Ministry of Urban Development of Albania to lead the implementation of programs on national housing policy.

Following a presentation by its General Director, Doris Andoni in the 2015 General Assembly the membership application has been approved by Housing Europe members and so NHA has officially become the new member of the HE family.  

Check out the NHA profile online

European Parliament calls for exclusion of SGEI from TTIP (*)
Update from the latest plenary session- What's next

The European Parliament has adopted its (non-binding) recommendations to the Commission on TTIP on 8th July. The resolution has been adopted with 436 in favour, 241 against, 32 abstentions.

The plenary vote confirmed the position of the committee for international trade on the exclusion of public services irrespectively on how they are provided and funded.

Read more

EPBD Public Consultation Opens
Housing Europe will respond
 
As part of the evaluation and review of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, as required under Art. 19 of the Directive, the European Commission has launched a public consultation which will run until 31 October.

The objective of this consultation is to consult stakeholders on the review of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and evaluate whether the directive has met its aims. The consultation will also explore issues in relation to the Smart Finance for Smart Buildings initiative and the links of the directive with other energy policy areas.

The consultation is divided into 12 sections, and is designed for respondents to answer questions which cover their area of expertise and/or concerns.

Housing Europe will respond to the consultation, mainly based on the findings of the NZEC project and will further discuss it with its members at the October meeting of the Committee on Energy, Construction and Standardization.

More information

2015 EU-China Urbanisation Partnership Forum
Housing Europe was there
 
Housing Europe was invited to participate and present the state of play of housing in Europe on the 2015 EU-China Urbanisation Partnership Forum on 29 June in Brussels.
 
Co-organized by the European Commission, the Committee of the Regions and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China (NDRC), the purpose of the Forum was to further facilitate the implementation of the Joint Declaration on the EU-China Partnership on Urbanisation signed by Li Keqiang, then Vice Premier of People’s Republic of China and Jose Manuel Barosso, former President of the European Commission in May 2012.
 
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Coordination and integrated approach to combat homelessness
Key conclusions of the 2015 FEANTSA Policy Conference
 
Housing Europe attended the 2015 FEANTSA Policy Conference that took place in Paris on 18-20 June. More than 300 practitioners and policy makers across Europe discussed good practice and explored the role of Europe in fighting homelessness. The key question addressed was how to connect different levels - local, regional, national and European – in order to make a decisive impact on homelessness.

The two day event that was hosted in the Paris City Hall unfolded in two plenary sessions and 12 workshops. Key themes included: free movement and homelessness; national homelessness strategies; making use of the EU’s structural and investment funds; public financing models; international legal instruments; youth homelessness; domestic violence; data; housing markets; rough sleeping; healthcare and Housing First.

Read our report and access all conference presentations

Cohesion Policy Investments in Sustainable Energy
Highlights from the EU Sustainable Energy Week
 
On 15-19 June the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions organised the EU Sustainable energy week, a three-day Policy Conference in Brussels (#EUSEW15). A wide range of stakeholders attended the events: public authorities, researchers, energy agencies, private companies, NGOs and associations.

Our Policy Assistant, Edit Lakatos participated to events relevant to the use of Structural Funds on energy efficiency and reports the main outcomes.

Read the article and check out also a summary of the EUSEW 2015 compiled by BUILD UP

City Initiatives for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CITIE)

City Initiatives for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CITIE) supports city leaders to develop policy to catalyse innovation and entrepreneurship. It  is the product of a partnership between Nesta, Accenture and the Future Cities Catapult under CITIE.Index.

The CITIE FRAMEWORK sets out nine roles that a city can play to support innovation and entrepreneurship across the full range of its activities.

It consists of three components: city framework, diagnostic tool and case studies. The site highlights the fact that innovation and entrepreneurship play an increasingly vital role in the economic fortunes of cities. By its leadership, infrastructure and attitude, the local government has its influence on these dimensions.

The main feature of CITIE is that it assesses how well each city supports innovation and entrepreneurship across nine key policy areas, so that it helps city officials on how and where they can improve.

Find out more

 

10 minutes with Doris Andoni, General Director of National Housing Agency of Albania

Every month we introduce you to one of the people leading the work of our member organisations. In this edition, we have the pleasure to introduce you to the representative of our newest member, the General Director of the National Housing Agency of Albania, Doris Andoni.

Find out more about NHA and its structure. Get informed about the housing policy priorities in Albania at the moment and get to know Doris in person, especially if you have not had the chance to meet here at the General Assembly.

Read on our blog

Housing Refugees in the Netherlands - The case of the "Home Again" platform
 
The figures for 2014 show that the Netherlands had to provide housing to almost 14.000 refugees. They were almost all housed by social housing landlords. What is the role of the "Home Again" platform?

The platform "Home Again" is aimed to accelerate the housing of refugees. Our Dutch member and the national federation of social housing associations, Aedes, is also involved with the new platform.

Read more on our blog

Dutch government ordered to cut carbon emissions in landmark ruling
 
Dutch court orders state to reduce emissions by 25% within five years to protect its citizens from climate change in world’s first climate liability suit.

A court in The Hague has ordered the Dutch government to cut its emissions by at least 25% within five years, in a landmark ruling expected to cause ripples around the world.

To cheers and hoots from climate campaigners in court, three judges ruled that government plans to cut emissions by just 14-17% compared to 1990 levels by 2020 were unlawful, given the scale of the threat posed by climate change.

Read the full story on The Guardian 

 

ELOSH Final Event

The European Core Learning Outcomes for Integration of Support and Housing (ELOSH), a project within which Housing Europe has been responsible for all dissemination and exploitation activities is about to come to an end. On September 15^th the final event will be taking place in Brussels and it will be an opportunity for the project partners to interact with policy makers in a co-productive manner and to pave the way for the actual implementation of the learning outcomes and of the universal training pack produced within ELOSH in the future.

ELOSH transfers innovative learning results and training materials on integrated support and housing, developed by Sitra, an expert consultancy on training in the field of housing with health, care and support. This material promotes the co-production of services including citizen’s needs as its core.

Partners have adapted these outcomes and tools to create a flexible European pack that has been tested in seven countries by housing and support providers, working also with VET providers and service users.

Time now to open the floor to this broad coalition that brings together 14 partners from 8 EU members states and from various sectors, including housing professions, health, care and support service providers.

Find out more information about the project on www.elosh.eu and follow the exchange on Twitter using #elosh

Download the draft agenda of the final conference & Register for the event online

Funding Opportunities (*) 
New Calls in Erasmus+, Horizon 2020 & Interreg

Housing Europe keeps following the updates related to all EU funds and has prepared a summary of the latest developments for its members. 

New calls for proposals are now open within the framework of Erasmus+, Horizon 2020 and Interreg. Check out the deadlines, the terms and conditions, examples and download helpful guidelines. 

Visit our European Funding portal for more information

The TRIME Project
Energy Saving and benefiting from behavioural change

Involving 8 social housing providers in 5 countries (UK, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium), the EU-funded project TRIME Project aims to empower and motivate residents to save energy through an active change in their consumption and purchasing behaviour and consequently to reduce their energy bills.

TRIME will measure the energy savings of residents as a result of changes in behaviour through the installation of Smart Meters and residents providing their own information about consumption. The project will also help manufacturers and social housing companies create smart and innovative products, services and houses that residents will enjoy.

Find out more

 

Online course (MOOC) on "Regions, EU institutions and policy-making"
 
The European Committee of the Regions is currently developing an online course or MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for officials of regional and local authorities, representatives of associations and others interested.

The course will be available at www.Iversity.org as of 19 October 2015. The course is free of charge and covers topics from EU Cohesion Policy and Smart Specialisation to migration and access to EU programmes (see course curriculum under Documents). The course will consist of videos, factsheets, live discussions with experts webstreamed from the European Committee of the Regions, and infographics and suggestions for further reading.

The course is open to everyone interested in the EU and regional affairs, but particularly for those who work on EU affairs at local level, for example in the context of EU programmes or projects.

Download the E-Leaflet to find out more