A successful dialogue on collaborative housing
On March 26, urbaMonde and the NETCO project co-organised a webinar dedicated to the European Affordable Housing Plan. Bringing together more than 240 participants from 36 countries, the event highlighted the growing interest in collaborative housing solutions to address Europe’s housing crisis.
A changing European context
As access to affordable housing becomes increasingly challenging across European cities and rural areas, the European Commission has introduced a new Affordable Housing Plan to remove regulatory and technical barriers and pave the way for future legislation.
In this context, collaborative housing – particularly when developed in partnership with public sector bodies and social housing organisations – stands out as a sustainable, inclusive, and practical response to interconnected social, economic, and environmental challenges.
A rich exchange between cities, institutions and European networks
The webinar gathered a wide range of participants: public decision-makers, housing professionals, researchers and students, campaigners and residents of collaborative housing schemes.
A roundtable discussion involving NETCO membes showcased concrete experiences from three European cities:
- Amsterdam presented its ambitious target of 7,500 collaborative housing units per year, supported by public land allocation and municipal loans.
- Bologna highlighted its inclusive approach, integrating collaborative housing into social housing policies and fostering mixed communities.
- Manresa, together with Sostre Cívic, demonstrated innovative financing and land access mechanisms supporting cooperative housing development.
Key takeaways
Several key lessons emerged from the discussions:
- Access to land and finance remains a major bottleneck to the large-scale development of affordable community-led housing.
- Cities play a crucial enabling role. particularly through appropriate land policies and financial instruments.
- A paradigm shift is needed to simultaneously address the housing, climate, and social cohesion crises through non-speculative participatory housing.
- Non-profit, cooperative and community-led models must be at the heart of future European investments.
- Participants also highlighted the need to ensure that European policies do not encourage speculative models, which are at the root of the problem of rising housing costs.
Strong positive feedback
The webinar was widely praised, with feedback highlighting the value of sharing good practices, the relevance of the practical examples, and the importance of strengthening synergies between cities and European stakeholders.
What’s next?
The webinar represents an important step in strengthening collaboration between European institutions, local governments and civil society. It sets the stage for continued advocacy and action to scale up collaborative housing across Europe.
Discussions on the implementation of the European Plan for Affordable Housing and the European Construction Regulation will continue in various forums throughout the year. UrbaMonde will be participating in particular through the European Collaborative Housing Alliance, alongside NETCO, Sostre Civic ECLTN, MOBA Housing SCE, World Habitat and the European Student Cooperative Housing Alliance.
The slides and recording of the webinar are available here.
