Ep 49: Sustaining and Growing Europe’s Social Housing with Sorcha Edwards

It’s difficult to sustain a social housing program, but it’s even harder to build one from scratch. Housing Europe, a coalition of social, public, and cooperative housing providers, is trying to do both. Sorcha Edwards, who serves as Secretary General of Housing Europe, joins us to share their efforts to expand the footprint of non-profit and limited-profit housing across the continent — maintaining established programs like those in Austria and Finland, and growing them in places like Spain, where only about 1% of housing units are rented social housing. We also discuss the International Social Housing Festival, happening this year in Barcelona on June 7-9, and the lessons and inspiration that can be drawn from practitioners around the globe.

Show notes:

• Report: The State of Housing in Europe, 2021. Housing Europe.
• More about Matongé, Brussels: Matonge, an African home in Brussels.
• Website for the International Social Housing Festival, in Barcelona June 7-9, 2023.
• Website for the Het Schip Social Housing Museum.
• O’Sullivan, F. (July 16 2020). To Fill Vacant Units, Barcelona Seizes Apartments. Bloomberg.
• Phillips, S. (April 18 2023). To improve housing affordability, Spain needs more rental housing. International Social Housing Festival blog post.