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Opening of Housing Europe Centre and lauch of two publications |
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03-12-07
On November 7th, the Housing Europe Centre was officially opened by Mr Michel Delebarre (left of photo), President of the Committee of the Regions. This new initiative brings CECODHAS, The European Liaison Committee for Social Housing and the European offices of national housing federations under one roof to form a centre of expertise on housing issues. The offical opening also marked the launch of two new publications on social housing in the EU which are now available.
The first of the two publications is entitled The development of Social Housing in the European Union. When the general interest meets the community interest. (2007) by Laurent Ghekiere. The book is available from CECODHAS DEXIA, USH in French and will be printed in English in early 2008.This book analyses the new developments of social housing in Europe, from the perspective of Brussels, appropriating the 'jargon' of the EU institutions and decoding their 'rules of the game' that take precedence over those of the member states. A development of social housing under surveillance, at the point where general and community interest meet together, at the heart of the interinstitutional power struggle and the political debate on the place of the services of general interest in the EU.
Also available is the Report on social housing in the European Union launched: Housing Europe 2007: Review of social, co-operative and public housing in the 27 EU Member states.
The CECODHAS European Social Housing Observatory has carried out the first-ever account of the social, co-operative and pubic housing sector in the 27 EU member states. The report presents an overview of the main trends and issues facing the social, co-operative and public housing sectors across EU Member states. It also contains country profiles and key data on the sector in each EU Member state. The study draws on data provided by the network of CECODHAS correspondents as well as on external national experts. The report was launched at the European conference “Tendencies in Social Housing Policies: Stepping forward in the 21st Century” co-organised by the Portuguese EU Presidency and CECODHAS in Lisbon on the 17th of October 2007. The need for such a study arose from the acknowledgment of a lack of systematic and comprehensive monitoring of social housing at a European level and hence of the vacuum of reliable and up-to-date data on the sector. This effort responds not just to the interest of a variety of societal, political and academic actors in accessing such information and analysis, but in particular to the identification of the key issues and challenges for policy and practice in the field social housing across the European Union.
Download a copy of the report in EN and FR
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