The National Housing Federation London hosted an MEP Question Time at the UK Office of the European Parliament on Friday 15th May 2009. This event was an opportunity to find out more about the place social housing holds in Europe and to influence future decision makers. David Orr, CECODHAS President and NHF Chief Executive, spoke about the challenge of getting British voters interested in European elections while praising the work of Europe’s housing federations at an MEP Question Time in London on May 15. “European elections seem to disappear into the background,” Mr Orr said, adding that “a major problem in this country is getting people to engage in Europe.”

Representatives of all parties running for the European elections in England were present at the event.
Mr Fryer (Liberal Democrat) pledged to “lobby hard for the EU to take the third sector more seriously,” while MEP Lambert (Green) said “housing has a major impact on people’s lives, people’s opportunities.” Mr Lightfoot (Conservative) said it was important to see the bigger picture as well. “I understand the huge importance of (having) a home," he said. "I also understand the huge importance of a job.”
MEP Honeyball (Labour) said: “The third sector is different, it has different values and works in a different way.”

The stakes concerning housing and Europe in 2009 as well as policy proposals for 2009-2014 are formulated in NHF Manifesto 'Housing Europe: actions for a sustainable future'. NHF Manifesto contains several concrete requests, focusing on housing as a lever for environmental sustainability and economic recovery, and as a prerequisite for social and territorial cohesion.

>Find out more at: www.housing.org.uk