Updated 23.10.17
Housing Futures: Various links - see below
Housing Futures is the online platform on housing strategies for cities around the globe. The following have been posted during October.
Paris's massive affordable housing issue
Like so many other international cities around the world, Paris has a huge affordability problem with its housing.
The reasons are complex and varied but when millions of people wish to live in a place, the demand can cause many issues.
Paris ranks as one of the most expensive cities in the world. Depending on where you look its the second most expensive or the 5th most.
There are several issues contributing to the problem and different actions being taken to improve upon the issues.
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Affordable housing in the Middle East and North Africa: Can supply keep up with demand?
In the Middle East and North Africa, the population is growing rapidly and the average age of inhabitants is growing younger.
This is naturally an equation that is going to make the housing demand boom. Some estimates put the number of units needed in the range of over 3.5 million.
With a lot of unrest and social issues taking place, affordable and decent housing falls right behind food, water and clean air.
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5 creative housing ideas for refugees
Whether they are coming from terrible political situations, war or even fleeing climate change, the number of refugees needing shelter should be expected to go up in the future.
Countries, international bodies and cities will need to become quicker, smarter and more creative in the future if they hope to keep up with these world issues.
This update looks at five amazing examples that illustrate 'thinking outside of the box'.
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Student housing in Italy, challenges, opportunities and innovation
Student housing in Italy is not regarded as an asset class, while in other countries across Europe it is. Why not? Can it be?
Urbanpromo Housing Sociale's second Friday morning session was dedicated to answering these questions.
Two speakers introduced student housing in Spain and France, followed by a panel discussion focusing on the Italian case.
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Italy trying to prepare housing for massive boom of elderly
No topic appears to be more cultural related than dealing with ageing among tenants, as we learned at the 'Senior Social Housing' session of the Urbanpromo social housing conference in Turin.
After introductions by Francesco Coco on housing project for elderly in Barcelona and Gaullaume Lelong of Domitys about French elderly housing, we received a very nice insight in the status of the Italian welfare state and cultural preferences of Italians growing old.
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6 young social housing leaders in Europe you should know
Social housing has a rich and strong history throughout Europe. Some countries have hundreds of years of experience and have produced amazing leaders who changed their communities and countries for the better.
The same holds true now and there are countless people in the social housing industry in Europe leading the way. While it is important to look at our current leaders, we must also keep an eye to the future.
Lets take a spin and learn about the leaders of tomorrow.
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Impact investment in England and Denmark
A very topical issue being addressed at Urbanpromo Social Housing in Turin, Italy, was Impact investment in social housing.
The session was introduced by Marco Camoletto, who described that impact investment in social housing is still in a preliminary phase, it has only been applied by a very limited group of financers.
At 'UbanPromo social housing' participants wanted to learn from experiences abroad and see how impact investment can be applied better. Here are two examples of impact investment that were presented at the conference.
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Collaborative housing as a source of disruptive innovation
Collaborative housing is the new buzz word among citizens of Europe's biggest cities. Some are asking whether this is just a trend or something that we need to deal with on the long run.
At the Urbanpromo Social Housing conference, in October 2017 in Turin, a collective of international and Italian experts gathered to address this phenomena.
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Ground breaking funding concepts in Italy's social housing sector
Building and financing social housing is an exercise in patience and diligence. Finding the funds, choosing the right projects and building meaningful communities is not something that happens overnight.
In Italy, the Fondazione Housing Sociale is working across the country with multiple partners in a way that might revolutionize the way all of us work someday.
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5 innovative homeless shelters from around the World
Homelessness is a scourge that still effects every country across the world. There are many different organisations working on this issue but short-term shelters continue to be a bridge to permanent housing for many homeless.
This article highlights 5 shelters from around the world that are providing unique services that we wanted to highlight.
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The rise and fall of Venezuelan social housing?
Venezuela has been going through political unrest that is testing all parts of the countries systems.
Everything from food to housing and public transportation have been affected by the issues taking place. Social housing has not been spared from the rough times within the country.
An interesting dynamic is taking place between a massive social housing building effort and a corresponding effort to then privatise it all.
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Posted 11.10.17
Altair: Article link
Several African governments have approached the UK-based specialist housing consultancy Altair to help develop a network of affordable housing agencies. This new venture has become known as 'Altair Africa'.
Altair Africa already has four contracts in place:
Now, Altair Africa has been awarded a contract with the Nigerian Government to help them develop a business plan to set up a regulator and investment vehicle to encourage affordable housing development in Nigeria.
The project, which will be led by Derek Joseph (Altair Chair) and Olu Olanrewaju (on secondment from London & Quadrant), will be carried out over the next three months.
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Updated 04.10.17
