EUROPEAN UNION

European Regional Development Fund

Baseline Study

The Housing Project

Thematic Network 21

Baseline Study

The Housing Project

URBACT II Thematic Network 21 Thematic Pole ‘Social Inclusion and Governance’

Heidrun Feigelfeld - Lead Thematic Expert City of Santiago de Compostela - Lead Partner

October 2008

EUROPEAN UNION European Regional Development Fund

Preface The frequently heard assertion that housing is an exclusively national issue and responsibility takes on rather cynical significance in view of the current worldwide financial crisis which began in the housing sector of real estate. Now, at the beginning of October 2008, as I finalise this study, nobody can predict what the situation will be when the auditors read these pages. In any case the housing sector and housing policy will also not be the same after the crisis and the credit crunch. According to the ‘Guidelines on Baseline Studies’, the study consists of three elements: A ‘State of the Art’ paper (at European level, on the topic being addressed by the project) – Part A of this study, an analysis of the state of play regarding the housing situation and the most urgent challenges to be faced in the participating cities, our ‘partner profiles’ – Part B, and a synthesis paper - the final Part C.

Baseline Study SUITE The Housing Project

Content

Preface I

Part A State of the Art A - 1

A.1 Housing Policy A - 1 A.1.1 Housing Situation - the role of social housing A - 2 A.1.2 Housing in Europe - The European dimension and the European Union Context A - 5 A.1.3 Housing in the European Regional Policy A - 7 A.2 Housing and Social Inclusion A - 8 A.2.1 Poverty and the role of housing A - 9 A.2.2 The EU Social Inclusion Policy A - 10 A.2.3 Affordability and Social Mix A - 11 A.3 Housing and environmental sustainability A - 12 A.3.1 Current status of the issue A - 12 A.3.2 Kyoto and European Environmental Policy - the impact of housing A - 15 A.3.3 Financial aspects of environmental sustainability A - 15 A.4 Integrated policy? A - 16

Part B Partner Profiles

Introduction The profiles of the partners (in alphabetical order) City of Albacete, ES City of Hamburg, D City of Iasi, RO City of Krakow, PL Medway Council, UK Nantes Métropole, F City of Newcastle, UK Rennes Métropole, F City of Santiago de Compostela, ES (Lead partner) City of Siemianowice Slaskie, PL City of Tallinn, EST

Annex: Matrix ‘Compilation of Matrices filled by partners regarding housing related competences in their administration’ Matrix ‘EXAMPLE of a MATRIX for the Collection of EXPECTATIONS and CONTRIBUTIONS’

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Part C Synthesis C - 1 C.1 Rainbow or clear line? - The broad variety of housing situation and policy C - 1 C.1.1 On the starting blocks C - 1 C.1.2 Demographic challenge and changing life careers C - 3 C.1.3 The poverty trap - financial viability and affordability C - 3 C.1.4 Environment and energy costs C - 4 C.2 Motivation and drivers of change - the main interests of the partners C - 4 C.21 The scope of action for the cities C - 5 C.2.2 Programmes and policies – towards implementation C - 5 C.3 A matter of give-and-take questions versus good practice outlook towards an ambitious exchange C - 6 C.3.1 Social sustainability C - 7 C.3.2 Economic sustainability C - 8 C.3.2 High environmental quality C - 8 C.4 The triangular challenge (Social) Housing – financially, socially and environmentally sustainable? C - 9 C.5 ‘Grounded’ - how to arrive at tangible results C -10

Annex - Excursus on approaches to affordability Graph: Planning a common methodology (working groups)

Imprint

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European Regional Development Fund

A State of the Art

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Part A State of the Art A - 1

A.1 Housing Policy A - 1 A.1.1 Housing Situation - the role of social housing A - 2 A.1.2 Housing in Europe - The European dimension and the European Union Context A - 5 A.1.3 Housing in the European Regional Policy A - 7 A.2 Housing and Social Inclusion A - 8 A.2.1 Poverty and the role of housing A - 9 A.2.2 The EU Social Inclusion Policy A - 10 A.2.3 Affordability and Social Mix A - 11 A.3 Housing and environmental sustainability A - 12 A.3.1 Current status of the issue A - 12 A.3.2 Kyoto and European Environmental Policy - the impact of housing A - 15 A.3.3 Financial aspects of environmental sustainability A - 15 A.4 Integrated policy? A - 16

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The following pages (Part A of the Baseline Study, the ‘State of the Art’ description should be restricted to few pages) provide some first insights into current main challenges and the ways the EU and countries/cities attempt to face them, with a focus on the main issues - social, economic and environmental - selected by the SUITE network. Of course, an enterprise of this kind will inevitably be incomplete and we therefore ask for allowances to be made. Basically, this type of activity should then be critically reflected within the current ‘Urban Knowledge’ discussion.1 A. State of the Art in Europe This brief overview of the European situation and discussion approaches the question, if and how ‘social housing’ could further guarantee good quality of life for the more disadvantaged part of the European population, in four chapters. In Part A.1 housing policy is addressed, starting from the role of social housing within the current housing situation, on national and local levels, to the European dimension as well as the European Union context in the housing question, with a special focus on European Regional Policy. Part A.2 Housing and social inclusion stresses that housing plays an eminent role for the poor, and can be a dangerous poverty trap. Thus, the EU Social Inclusion Policy includes housing questions. A main objective regarding housing – its affordability – will be briefly highlighted, discussing the role of social mix for a sustainable quality of life. The issue of Part A.3, housing and environmental sustainability, forms a further main challenge. The Baseline study comments on the current status of the issue and the impact of housing related measures on global and European levels and raises some questions on the financial aspects of high environmental quality. Part A.4 will discuss whether there are examples of good programmes and good practice in integrating both social and environmental aspects. A.1 Housing Policy Housing policy is, above all, national governmental policy with the objective to influence the market to provide sufficient and affordable stock. As ‘housing’ itself is a hybrid of the common good – indispensable for all – and commercial good, this is quite a challenge and permanently a subject of ideological discourse. There is a wide diversity of ideas on how to influence the market which is closely linked to political programmes and, furthermore, influenced by national history and culture. This results in national preferences for forms of housing tenure and various policies for public funding. ‘Fundamentally, housing policy instruments may take the form of taxation, regulation, activation, competition and subsidisation.’2 Very simply, it could be stated that liberal and conservative parties advocate only little state intervention in the housing market and place more emphasis on ownership, home ownership or condominium, whilst governments from the left favour stronger state influence, mostly by public funding, and often a more dominant role of tenancy.

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In the scientific discourse, apart from short-term policy shifts, we can assign European countries to several types, which reflect aspects of these preferences.3 Due to big political changes, recent decades showed radical shifts from one type of housing policy to another, especially in former communist countries and New Member States. The transformation led to strong liberalisation and the transfer of the housing stock either to the former owners or to sitting tenants as new owners. However, the extent of change considerably varied among the countries. Not only on national governmental level, but also on the level of provinces (in the case of federal systems), regions, other smaller organised entities (such as agglomerations or conurbations) and cities, housing policy plays a decisive role regarding regulatory and financial competencies. Even within cities, housing supply and housing regeneration is often dealt on the level of districts or neighbourhoods. In general, most politicians agree that at least some intervention in housing markets makes sense, aside from basic shortages, taking into account the usual cycles in supply and demand4. In times of a slowdown of economic growth, variable job markets and high prices of basic food and energy (times in which we currently live) efficient housing policy as a means for balance, relief and stabilisation takes on increasing importance. Furthermore, it is in the meantime undoubted that measures in the fields of spatial planning, construction and residential housing-related energy consumption can have a decisive impact on the achievement of the Kyoto Objectives regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions5. Therefore, environmental policy builds a link to housing policy, which will be reflected in our URBACT II SUITE network. A.1.1 Housing Situation – the role of social housing All European countries, mainly the big cities, dispose or disposed of a considerable stock of so called ‘social housing’ among the housing stock. As in most countries, it was soon beyond dispute that market forces would not ensure adequate provision for all classes of the population, by the 20th century governments to local authorities increasingly adopted responsibilities to house low-income groups and especially those threatened by poverty and the very poor. This was based on earlier regulations: from the Middle Ages cities had housed their poor in poorhouses or workhouses. And, during early industrialisation, enterprises built housing, from terraced houses to big estates, for their employees – the company houses. This stock, which only rarely demonstrated a philanthropic concept6, still partly characterises city quarters, with its brick-and-mortar appearance. And, very often, the responsibility for these stocks has shifted to local government. For about hundred years, housing programmes have indicated ‘decent and affordable housing for all’ as a main objective and as an ‘indispensable basis for employment, stability and quality of life’. A broad variety of measures was developed, from national level to city level: provision of building land, assistance in financing housing construction and renovation for various A-2

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types of bodies, such as housing associations, cooperatives, initiatives, but also support for the individual tenant or owner. National to municipal bodies also engaged in construction and housing management. This led to a vast field of ‘publicly funded’ housing - ‘public’, ‘municipal / council’, ‘social’, ‘cooperative’ etc. housing – usually all subsumed under the term of ‘social housing’. Thus, a first challenge in a project on ‘social housing’ such as our ‘SUITE’ project is to reach common understanding of the term, to avoid basic misunderstanding and to get to a comparable level. 7 In accordance with this recommendation, I would also propose to use the term ‘subsidised housing’ widely, instead of ‘social housing’. Moreover, there are broad differences in the profile of the social housing stock in terms of age and housing type, in the main target groups, in the forms and mix of tenure and in the general role in the local to national context and policy. As it is impossible to describe the variety in a small paper such as the study at hand, please see more comprehensive publications. Some recently published books and papers on Housing or Social Housing in Europe, respectively parts of Europe provide a very useful comparative view, such as Whitehead, C. and K. Scanlon (eds., LSE) (2007); Social Housing in Europe (discussing Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden); or Czischke, D. and A. Pittini (2007), Housing Europe 2007 (on all 27 EU Member States). Relevant also Czasny, K. (ed.) (2004), the importance of housing systems in safeguarding social cohesion in Europe (based on ECHP8 data, Austria, France, Spain, Sweden, UK); Lux, M. (ed.) (2003), Housing Policy: an end or a new beginning? (for the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary), or Donner, C. (2006), Housing Policies in Central Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia); and (2000), Housing Policies in the European Union.9 There are several networks and institutions, which provide a broad variety of information on housing / social housing in Europe, such as the ENHR European Network for Housing Research , and CECOHDAS, the European Liaison Committee for Social Housing and its European Social Housing Observatory.10 Post-fordist society brought major changes11. The provision of social housing flats for people on lower income, a situation existing for decades, was questioned, and followed by a withdrawal of public bodies from construction (keeping some administration and service obligations) towards a stronger role in funding and allocation. Within funding schemes two major lines can be identified, tax reduction and subsidies to different recipients, very often used in combination: means-tested individual subsidies to households, housing benefit or housing allowance (for tenants), or loans and guarantees (for owners), and on the other hand subsidies to developers (new construction) or landlords (regeneration). Financial support can be combined with provision of affordable land. Furthermore, forms of tenure are in motion, the bipolarity of social rental housing and subsidised condominium is softened, mixed forms, even including the private A-3

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residential sector, are being developed (change of tenure over time, limited agreements, mix of offers within one developed project, even within one building). Also, a broader variety of actors, developers and landlords, including international real estate ‘players’, distribution organisations and managers, and caretakers are involved. There are models of public private partnership (PPP) and of outsourcing. The especially serious changes in social housing policy in new member states have already been mentioned (A.1 Introduction).12 There are also big differences among client groups, based on history and policy, especially migration policy. Demographic changes (the ageing of the population), household changes (more, but smaller households, family breaks), changes in migration (new groups, 2nd and 3rd generation) and partly increasing poverty affect the level and the type of demand and of needs in housing. (See also chapter A.2 Housing and Social Inclusion.) Building standards including design quality, and living space per inhabitant have risen, but also costs of production and running costs, the latter most recently. Especially the increasing awareness of the importance of high environmental standards must be taken into account. This adds great topicality to the ‘affordability and social housing issue’. See also chapter A.2.3 Housing and Social Inclusion - affordability and social mix, and 3.3. Housing and Environmental Sustainability – financial aspects. Of course, there is still an increasing dominance of the (social) housing stock. This ‘heritage’ can form a positive reservoir in the sphere of influence of municipalities to balance the demand (much easier than by expensive new construction), but also can be a heavy burden by its needs of comprehensive regeneration. Very often, these regeneration needs are not only based on physical decay or the need for raising the standard, but also on the social downward spiral in estates or quarters. ‘The price has to be paid’ for misjudgement in housing programmes, starting with allocation policy and lack of investment. A special increasingly important question is how to stimulate and support the regeneration of buildings with (initially funded) owner-occupied apartments, inhabited by, very often overwhelmed, low wage earners. The encouragement of regeneration of the rental stock by private landlords should also not be forgotten. Municipalities are forced to act in all fields, because, as ‘interactive bins’, deficiencies in one market directly influence the cost situation and the level of demand in the city. However, as previously stated, the scope for action is enormously different from city (conurbation, agglomeration ..) to city. Housing policy is not only ‘housing a person or a family’, but also creating neighbourhoods, providing services, and forming the city structure. Thus, housing policy plays a key role in a much broader sense, regarding the quality of life of the citizens. It influences not only the scope of choice on ‘how to live’, but also on ‘where to live’. However, the consortium of partners in this network decided, at a very early stage of

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the project, to exclude the more site-based aspects of the (social) housing question. An overload of issues to be dealt with should be avoided. Basically, by all means, it is clear that exchange on social housing concentrates on urban areas, including the agglomeration, and that the structure of the housing stock and of the housing market differs remarkably between urban and rural areas. The questions of integration, participation and empowerment of the people affected may well play an important role in the discussions during our exchange. To sum up, basically nowadays municipalities are facing broad challenges, while in parallel often loosing support from national level. Local decision-making is taking on increasing importance. Also, the role of municipalities shows a continuous shift of responsibilities, from more ‘historical’ roles such as a constructor, landlord and administrator, to, in a much broader sense, steering, funding, management and moderation. Good governance is key for success, and therefore a project, which focuses on policies, programmes and methods, will be very helpful. A.1.2 Housing in Europe - The European dimension and the European Union Context Housing has a noticeable European dimension and housing markets are no longer restricted to national borders. To express it cynically, the ongoing dramatic impact of a crisis in a national housing market, the U.S. sub-prime crisis, on the global economy clearly shows the inter-relationships. The crashed Spanish real estate market, and the wobbling UK real estate market are the next candidates to demonstrate an impact on European level. Of course, although housing is a locally determined issue, the brief overview in the previous chapter showed that not only the physical appearance and the standard of housing, but also underlying market processes, programmes, policies and methods have much in common across European countries, and especially across European cities and agglomerations. This is because social housing on a larger scale is a dominantly ‘urban issue’. Partly, a high standard of social housing has been reached, which provides valuable experience to share among European partners (the URBACT programme should just be one of these levels of exchange). Furthermore, as the desired and less desired mobility of the work force (and of the poor!) is a reality in Europe and as these people also need a place to live, the European Community should face this situation more actively. Within the European Union the supply of sufficient, adequate and affordable housing to ensure workers mobility between the Member States will be increasingly crucial. Most of the European countries, especially the ‘old member states’, also face high immigration from non-member states and non-European countries. As an ‘ageing union’ and an ageing continent (low birth rates, rapid increase in old population groups, decline of the workforce) Europe urgently needs migration, but balanced policies on national levels and on a common European level have not yet been developed to manage the integration of those groups into employment and housing.

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Apart from recent developments, there have been minorities and groups with a migratory background living in Europe, mostly European cities, for decades. They very often still face worse living and housing conditions than the initial population. Although in the European Community policies ‘housing’ is generally seen as a national competence, there are many EU policy fields which are touched by this issue. Thus these ‘non-housing’ fields already integrate housing aspects into their programmes, funding schemes, studies and exchange activities. It is surprising that despite this it is still necessary for promoters of ‘the housing issue’ to fight to bring it higher on the EU agenda, which would correspond to its multi- faceted role. The list is already quite long, impressively long, reaching from rights to the pillars of the EU Lisbon Agenda and from environment to citizens’ involvement. To cite them correctly would be beyond the scope of this brief paper, thus I make do with listing some key issues and terms. Fundamental rights are addressed on global level such as the ‘Human Right to Adequate Housing’ (United Nations – Universal Declaration of Human Rights), and there is an ongoing discussion on European level about the right to housing and its enforceability13. Also, the currently discussed European Commission’s “Proposal for a Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation” would protect against discrimination in housing, among other areas. This also refers to the term ‘equal opportunities’ used on EU level in the employment and social policies area. Gender has also to be taken into account. The directive is not yet finalised. EU gender policies frequently refer to the housing situation in connection with poverty, as women are over-represented in various disadvantaged groups (poor or threatened by poverty - older people, single mothers etc.). European Social Inclusion and Social Protection Policy as an integral part of the Lisbon Agenda (on Jobs and Growth) already integrated various projects including housing issues within the activities joint in the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). Furthermore, regarding the growing sector of housing-related services, there is a direct link to employment. To know more, see chapter A.2.2. Also, for EU Employment Policy the construction sector plays a strong role as a provider of employment, especially using the workforce of migrants. EU policy on Environment and on Energy addresses the housing issue, both on the level of production and consumption. This refers to buildings themselves, but also to the land, the free space and the whole urban context (energy consumption of construction, of buildings, heating etc., waste, water, green space, natural risks …). See more in chapter A.3. Of course, various EU activities on citizens’ participation and empowerment have close links with housing, as very often people are engaged, or could be engaged on residents’ or neighbourhood level on vital questions regarding housing.

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The question, how far EU Regional Policy integrates housing related issues into its policy and funding schemes is key for the future scope of action on national and local levels. Therefore, it will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter, A.1.3.. Briefly, it should also be mentioned that ‘housing’ is a relevant issue for research on European level. Several projects have been funded by DG Research within the RTD Framework Programmes (currently the 7th Framework Programme is in progress14), or by special funds such as the ESF European Science Foundation15. Practitioners’ projects should integrate relevant knowledge from the research field. Also EUKN European Knowledge Network shares knowledge and experience on tackling urban issues including housing.16 Housing issues are also promoted by institutions acting on European level. The most relevant might be European platforms for stakeholder policies, such as CECODHAS for housing associations and EUROCITIES for cities, with its new Working Group on Housing or the European branch of IUT International Union for Tenants, European platforms for target group policies (FEANTSA together with its Europen Observatory on Homelessness (EOH) AGE European Older People’s platform, Social Platform of NGOs), to list just some17. (UNECE- Europe’s (UNECE) Committee on Housing and Land Management acts for the global promotion of integrated housing policies, as well as IFHP International Federation for Housing and Planning). Also the sector of housing and urban research and exchange is cooperating on a European (plus a wider, global) level, e.g. ENHR European Network for Housing Research, with its numerous working groups, and some more temporary trans-national groups. 18 Of course, this is not a comprehensive list. But it demonstrates that a huge source of information and food for thought is available. Cooperation with some of these EU level organisations could provide much added value to an URBACT project on social housing. A.1.3 Housing in the European Regional Policy The URBACT Programme is carried out under the responsibility of EU DG Regio and funded by the ERDF European Regional Development Fund. Also, there are strong links to the ESF European Social Fund (under the responsibility of EU DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities). ‘One third of the total EU budget is spent on the European Social Fund ESF and the European Regional Development Fund ERDF in two main programmes: convergence and competitiveness’.19 As the URBACT Monitoring Committee has selected a network concentrating on a housing issue for the URBACT II period, there is an obvious assumption that ‘housing’-related measures would be eligible for funding by ERDF and / or ESF means. This is not explicitly the case. Rather, ‘housing’ has been seen as a national issue, and direct funding for housing measures by ERDF funding has not been possible until now. (However, a broad variety of housing related issues have been discussed and funded within other EU programmes, as was noted in the chapter above.) In the current period 2007 to 2013, there is a decisive change in this policy. As a result of a multi-faceted negotiation process20, finally a break-through was achieved, at least for the New Member States. A-7

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‘Housing’ is now eligible for the ERDF in the EU 12 ("New" Member States, NMS). It means that the following activities can be co-financed by the EU’: (a) renovation of the common parts of multi-family residential buildings, as follows: (i) refurbishment of the following main structural parts of the building: roof, façade, windows and doors on the façade, staircase, inside and outside corridors, entrances and their exteriors, elevator; (ii) technical installations of the building; (iii) energy-efficiency measures. (b) delivery of modern social housing of good quality through renovation and change of use of existing buildings owned by public authorities or non-profit operators. For the EU-15 ("Old" Member State, OMS), housing remains ineligible per se for the ERDF (it is not possible to renovate or build social housing), although it is so far possible to allocate EU funding for soft measures (such as studies) in the field of energy and for integrated urban development plans covering aspects of housing estates such as communal spaces.21 Both the inclusion of housing related projects in the NMS and the OMS in a certain country or region depends on the defined priorities and formulations in the respective ‘Operational Programme for 2007 to 2013’ (ERDF and ESF). Managing Authorities for Operational Programmes (OP) are designated in each country (or region, if there is a regional OP) and can provide more in-depth information (e.g. for municipalities). There are opportunities in the field of territorial (mainly inter-regional) cooperation, where housing is mentioned among the fields covered by the programmes. For all Member States, it is possible to use European Social Funds (ESF) for training and capacity- building in the field of housing22. The current French Presidency of the EU and the link to URBACT activities (Annual Conference) could provide a good opportunity to increase the visibility of the ‘housing issue’ and to raise awareness of the new funding schemes. Initiating first ERDF funded ‘pilot’ projects on housing in NMS with a direct investment in buildings, and in OMS with means for plans, programmes and studies, and applying for further projects to the ESF would form a decisive step forward, and could influence the programming for the next period 2014- . A.2 Housing and Social Inclusion The role of a stable and affordable housing situation for people need not be stressed here again. It directly influences the whole living situation. Thus, interfering in the market situation by spending public money for housing lower wage earners has a long tradition and is one of the main tasks for public bodies. Balancing disparities is a common challenge for municipalities and similar bodies. Disparities produce exclusion with broad negative consequences, thus the objective of ‘social inclusion’, which then should enhance ‘social cohesion’, became the most frequently used word in the discussion on social issues in the last decade.23

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A.2.1 Poverty and the role of housing Although Europe is a very rich continent, poverty is still a fact – the most recent available data show that 16% of the population – at least 78 m. people in the European Union are threatened by poverty. However, there are still considerable differences between member states, which range from 9 to 12 % in the most advanced countries to 20 plus % in some others. This risk-of-poverty-rate has only little connection to whether a country has undergone a major transition. It is more a question of balance within a society.24 Poverty or risk of poverty is particularly high among specific groups of the population, such as single parent households with one dependent child (33%). Looking at age groups: children (0-17) with a risk of 19%, young people 18-24 (18%), and older people (65+) at 19% with older women at much higher risk than men (21% compared to 16%). The gender-dimension of poverty is clearly visible. Also, unemployment is a key factor in people being at risk of poverty (40%). Of course, these figures do not include some of those in the most extreme situations such as some minority ethnic groups, especially the Roma, immigrants, undocumented migrants, the homeless, people living in or leaving institutions, etc.25 Despite a century of social and housing policy, being ‘poor’ can still mean living in inadequate housing or even threatened by housing loss, or already homeless. Very often poor people also suffer from an disproportional burden of housing costs. Benefits play a decisive role in balancing the income and living situation, and diverse forms of housing benefits, assigned directly or via subsidised provision, form an important part of these tools in most countries.26 Also, a variety of additional support is provided on city level. Currently, European countries are discussing or implementing ‘minimum income schemes’ which take account of housing benefits to varying degrees. (Read more in A.2.3 Affordability and social mix. And in A.3.3 Financial aspects of environmental sustainability.) Mostly, people at risk of poverty live in rented housing. Municipalities are, with good cause, keen to avoid repeated homelessness and high turnover in the housing stock. However, they sometimes face high levels of rent debts. And people in a precarious living situation tend to react with vandalism, aggression and even crime. There is a multi-faceted discussion at European level and big differences in referring to policies, generally more in the ethical and policy superstructure and use of terms (e.g. ‘ASB anti-social-behaviour’) than in local implementation. In any case, ‘security’ seems to be a top issue both for residents and for local authorities. Poverty is not exclusively concentrated in rental housing. For some years helping ‘poor owners’ has also been on the agenda. This is above all concentrated in countries with a very dominant ‘ownership market’ (UK, Spain, Ireland, some New Member States such as Hungary, Poland, Romania etc.) and is mostly visible in a neglect of the maintenance and the refurbishment of the privately owned stock. In fact, we all are facing the never expected incredible consequences of a remote ‘sub-prime crisis’, which started by encouraging low wage earners to enter home-ownership. A-9

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A.2.2 The EU Social Inclusion Policy It is deplorable that despite a broad range of activities and the investment of considerable funding (ESF European Social Fund)27 the awareness of the European population of this commitment is still very low. On the contrary, surveys (as Eurobarometer)28 and national referenda show increasing negative positions in some countries.29 Following the introduction by the Amsterdam Treaty of the fight against social exclusion of the Union Objectives, the Lisbon European Council of 2000 asked Member States and the European Commission to take steps to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty by 2010 (in a coordinated voluntary process, the OMC Open Method of Coordination, under the responsibility of the EU DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities)30. Although generally housing is still understood as a mainly national responsibility, the impact of housing on a social inclusion process was clearly accepted from the beginning, from its major impact on employability to its role for a stable society. Various related trans-national exchange and national projects, development of indicators and statistics, studies and support for stakeholder associations were and are funded in this framework. Most of them referred to vulnerable groups as the homeless, migrants and ethnic minorities (e.g. the Roma)31, and the highly aged32. 2010, the ‘European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion’33 will provide a broader forum for visibility for these urgent issues. Currently, in the new PROGRESS programme period, ‘Social Inclusion’ (see above) and ‘Social Protection’ (health, long-term care and pensions, including unhealthy housing situation and adapted individual housing for old people in long-term care, and the growing sector of housing-related services) were more closely linked (SISP). This ‘streamlining’ is useful to act in a more integrated way, but shows some negative effects for the housing issue: for several years, governments have been obliged to contribute to the OMC by formulating ‘National Reports’ on their Social Strategy. The Commission then reacts with ‘Joint Reports’ including critique and recommendations.34 Already before the PROGRESS streamlining, the integration of housing issues into these reports was quite poor, now it is marginal. However, EU indicators for the measurement of poverty include the housing situation, and some countries are currently working on more detailed and refined indicators from housing to better portray the national situation. The activities of the Directorate General of Social Cohesion (DG III) are also relevant for the housing issue. Its ‘primary task is to foster social cohesion and to improve the quality of life in Europe for the genuine enjoyment of fundamental human rights and the respect of human dignity. The mandate of the Directorate is fulfilled through the promotion of European standards in the social and health field, the support of ethnic and cultural diversity and the implementation of social development co- operation. The Directorate also seeks to develop multi-disciplinary and innovative policies and to give practical support to policy makers, professionals and field workers

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across Europe through its legal standard-setting instruments, ministerial conferences, intergovernmental committees and groups of experts who meet regularly. The DG has recently organised a European Workshop on Social Housing Europe (Budapest, Hungary, 6-7 October 2008) with the Group of Specialists on Housing Policies for Social Cohesion (CS-HO), who have published guidelines and a booklet on housing policy and vulnerable social groups.35 A.2.3 Affordability and Social Mix Not only among the group of interested cities, gathered around the ‘Housing Issue’ for creating a common project, but also among policy makers, the administration, those working in the field, NGOs, the research community, and last but not least people living in bigger cities the priority question is how to keep or to make housing affordable for broad groups. This refers both to the rental sector and to the home-ownership sector. To cite CECOHDAS36, ‘According to the latest report on Housing Statistics in the EU (2005/2006), figures show worsening affordability across the EU. The housing price index has risen more rapidly than the general price index‘ plus several other cost data. European countries are affected to a different extent. ‘However, defining affordability and deciding how to measure it is a difficult task, given that it is a normative concept’. The consensual threshold of affordability is defined with 30% of the household’s income spent on housing. And still across the EU, this percentage is lower but is rising. Also, average data hide the broad disparities among segments of the housing market, the extent to which different groups are affected and regional disparities. In particular, New Member States seem to be affected by rising costs, as incomes do not keep pace. Before jumping to conclusions, more in-depth analysis is needed to identify the specific local triggers. Which prices, rents and costs are rising? Is it building costs? Rent levels? Or running costs? The running costs because of rising charges and fees, energy costs? The raw material or the power supply? What about taxes? Is it the financial market, and, finally, the credit crunch? Policies and programmes to reduce costs should definitely build on stock taking to alleviate the problem from its roots. Very often, it will not be just one factor, but a whole range, and the interaction between cost factors and between the market segments should be made clear as a basis for policy decisions. To date, threats of higher indebtedness, of eviction and housing loss have increased dramatically and will affect much broader groups than a short time ago. All the more, there is a clear need to identify the groups most affected. Probably these are predominantly female, which again shows the gender dimension of housing policy. Tailored support could then be given. Housing allowances and supply-side subsidies significantly reduce the burden represented by housing costs on poor households (see also chapter A.2.1). But funding schemes have to be adapted to the current situation, taking into account the viability for the funding body and the sustainability of the effects.

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Different levels of affordability seem to be one (but not the only) reason for a concentration of residents in the one or other segment of the housing market, and even in certain estates or buildings. In some of them, a ‘downward spiral’ started which led to severe problems not only for the residents. Very often, it seems that (municipal) assignment policy and not the structure of the estate, or the type of building was the trigger (although the mix of high rise and blocks proves as a big challenge in regeneration programmes.) A segregated social housing market with ‘glass ceilings’ instead of a chance for housing mobility are at the source. Problems became most visible with the French ‘banlieue’ riots, but many European cities face a similar situation, mainly in their outskirts. For the moment, policy and research see the main solution in creating a better social mix on local level. This tool should render the site more attractive, and should be produced by provision of a broader mix of dwelling regarding types of tenure, dwelling standards, targeted residents and, of course, costs. Broader groups should be attracted. Mostly, the plans include new construction, demolition and regeneration of a part of the stock, plus a more sensitive assignment policy. Models of PPP public private partnership or other forms of inclusion of a broader range of actors on the housing market are linked to these concepts. However, definitions of a ‘good social mix’ are intensively discussed at scientific level, and are a very sensitive political question. And this discussion is directly linked with that on ‘ghettoisation’ and the remedies.37 In any case, it seems clear that the basic problem of risks of poverty cannot be solved at housing level. Indeed, affordable housing in a socially balanced neighbourhood can decisively alleviate living conditions, enable starting a family, balance such challenges as unemployment or family break, and to enable people to find stability throughout their lives. A.3 Housing and environmental sustainability A high impact on the environment in many regards – land consumption, soil sealing, waste, water, gas, electricity consumption plus, above all, energy consumption from construction or refurbishment to heating - is related to where and how people live. Thus, careful programming, funding, planning and managing in the housing field play a decisive role in the reduction of consumption and in the creation of a more sustainable future. A.3.1 Current status of the issue The challenges posed by the increasing natural and man-made pressures on the environment and its resources require a coordinated approach at pan-European and international levels. Also in the housing field, we need to better understand and cope with issues such as climate change and identify environmentally friendly technologies in order to improve our management of both natural and man-made resources.38

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The issue is high on the agenda, although the most topical issues – the incredible global financial crisis and its impact on the global economy and on the life of everyone – casts a shadow on all. Compared to earlier days, more professionalism regarding housing management has entered the field. ‘Facility management’ instead of the former caretaker or ‘concierge’39, digital (consumption) data-based transparency in technical management, a more developed large-scale infrastructure on the one hand (e.g. municipal heating / cooling systems), on the other hand broader scope for tailored solutions help to increase well- being and to lower energy consumption. Furthermore, stakeholders are aware that even the best standard of environmental quality in new construction could not influence the necessary level of sustainability and saving to a sufficient extent. The regeneration of the older housing stock, which forms about 90% of the European stock, is crucial for success. However, although housing and neighbourhood regeneration has been an ongoing process in most European cities for decades, and still consumes an increasing proportion of public funding, a holistic approach to an environmentally sustainable level has not always been chosen. Comprehensive need for renovation is still on our doorstep, particularly in the post WWII stock. Again, it is the question of sufficient return on investment when huge cubatures of social housing, inhabited by disadvantaged groups, have to be refurbished. Whilst the 19th to mid 20th century brick and mortar stock still provides a more flexible structure for upgrading, the regeneration of large-scale estates with prefabricated concrete slab constructions poses great challenges. Especially New Member States suffer from a large ‘heritage’ of long-term neglected housing. This need of regeneration represents a big challenge in terms of financial, social and technical / environmentally sustainable requirements. However, this should not lead to a neglect of the integration of high environmental standards in a short- sighted approach. Furthermore, the ownership structure of the housing stock presents a challenge. This background is extremely different in European cities and countries, also in the field of housing for lower income groups, and it broadly depends on historical developments and prevailing preferences or ideologies. Whilst regeneration of public or funded rental housing can be more directly planned and financed, for private landlords incentives have to be provided, if the market mechanism does not work satisfactorily. This refers both to owner-occupied housing and to letting from a professional landlord. Also in this respect, especially in some New Member States, the large scale need for regeneration in now privately owned post-war housing stock is an urgent question. Large sections of home owners are over-challenged to cope with the most basic regeneration needs in financial and organisational respects, not to mention more advanced environmentally sustainable regeneration. In any case, no part of the housing market for lower wage earners can be neglected, if the objective is sustainable solutions.

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However, in recent years, a broad movement towards a more environmentally sensible approach to the built environment, and especially to housing has developed. Programmes and funding schemes have been initiated, broad opinion forming and exchange of experience and good practice is on its way, and a broad variety of institutions (such as ‘energy agencies’), accompanying, pushing and evaluating this process can be found. The level of action ranges from global to EU and local level, where many municipalities dare to be innovative and willing to invest. Exchange and learning projects as in URBACT can profit from this pool. There are EU regulations, and relevant national regulations on construction and rehabilitation standards indicating upper limits for room heating. Recently, following an EU regulation, European countries stipulate Energy Performance Certificates for a broad range of buildings (which in the mid-term should influence consumers’ choice and the markets) 40. High–grade programmes and podiums on EU level are working (see also A.1.2). CECODHAS has been active in this field of energy efficiency in social housing for some time and has held at least four informative conferences on the issue since 2007, which brought together stakeholders, scientists and practitioners and provided a comprehensive view of the state of discussion. They also set up an ‘Energy Experts Network’ for the social housing field. 41 Also the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management most recently focused its session on ‘an in-depth discussion on the issue of energy efficiency in housing in the UNECE region, addressing the obstacles’.42 Sustainable management of the environment and its resources requires multi- disciplinary and integrated measures, the development of new environmental technologies, tools and services, but also an increased involvement and responsibility by the end-users, in our case the residents of the existing and the future housing stock. In more and more countries and cities, the implementation of high environmental quality in housing entered the field of ‘funded housing’ or ‘social housing’. And it even served as a testing ground for innovation. Public funding with its background of a more comprehensive understanding of interdependencies in the urban area, and of urban programmes, is proving to be a useful tool for progress. ‘Low energy level’ construction, based on EU guided regulations on targeted upper levels of consumption, e.g. of heating energy per square metre, is on its way to becoming the mainstream in new construction of ‘subsidised housing’. Some countries, or cities/provinces have already reached this mainstream level, and are moving forward towards more ambitious objectives such as passive house standard. (Examples: Austria, Germany). Several EU funded projects explicitly work on exchange of learning in the field, such as CONCERTO, to mention one, where partners of the SUITE network were involved.43 Furthermore, there is a broad exchange with New Member States on the regeneration of the prefab housing stock. Of course, to reach the objective of high environmental quality, not only technical solutions have to be tackled, spatial planning also has a decisive impact on the A-14

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desired results. Compact cities with good public transport, well-oriented construction and a good mix of use contribute to innovation. But also to discuss this large field in more detail would go beyond the scope of this study. Publications, studies, conferences and workshops on the issue are already ‘legion’. And a broad field of actors – from architects, town planners, building industry to environmental activists and users / residents are taking part in the discussion.44 However, despite examples of good practice, we still need a more comprehensive discussion on the affordability of environmentally sustainable housing for all. A.3.2 Kyoto and European Environmental Policy – the impact of housing More than 40% of all CO2 emissions within the EU derive from the building stock, 77% of it from housing – i.e. almost one third of total emissions. These data form the background of programmes such as ‘Intelligent Energy Europe’ 45 Its mission statement: ‘There are many untapped opportunities to save energy and encourage the use of renewable energy sources in Europe, but market conditions do not always help. The Intelligent Energy - Europe programme is the EU's tool for funding action to improve these conditions and move us towards a more energy intelligent Europe.’ It is one of three operational programmes within the EU's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) from 2007 to 2013.46 They also form the background for national programmes. The activities will address policy needs such as the sustainability impact assessments of EU policies and the follow up to the Kyoto and post-Kyoto actions on climate change. The strategy for the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol foresaw a decisive reduction in CO2-equivalents in heating, 75% of it in the housing stock, until 2010. Meanwhile a EU directive further increased the obligations of the member states47. It is obvious that these objectives will not be achieved except by a combination of two principal strategies: on the one hand, conversion of the energy systems to renewal energy sources, on the other hand increased efficiency of energy use. A.3.3 Financial aspects of environmental sustainability The most obvious highly-topical impact on housing and especially on its cost is the enormous rise in energy costs on the international energy markets during this year, 2008. The whole dimension of the increase of running costs for the use of energy (electric energy, gas, fuel for heating) has not yet become visible, because the annual accounts and the forecast for the next period have not yet been made. Previews announce a 30, 40 or more percentage increase. Those who stored fuel for the upcoming heating seasons already know the real impact. Of course, low wage earners and the most disadvantaged are the most affected by this additional burden of running costs. UK policy discussion created the term ‘fuel poverty’ for being unable to heat the flat during the winter. This is just one more ‘brick in the wall’, together with the enormous rise in prices for alimentation and the

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breakdown of housing markets in some countries (Spain, UK), endangered jobs and pensions and the credit crunch. These issues have already been addressed in A.2.3 Affordability and Social Mix. To date, threats of higher indebtedness, of eviction and housing loss are increasing dramatically and will affect much broader groups than a short time ago. The most disadvantaged are also those living in housing stock with the lowest standard, also in terms of insulation and heating systems, thus also paying dis- proportionally more for basic running needs. Benefits for lowering the load of housing costs mostly refer to the rent itself. But today running costs often exceed the cost of rent. Balancing these needs by additional allowances or other subsidies will again load the national, regional or local public budgets. And these will not change the causes, but will only show short-term effects and will be identified as short-sighted policy. Thus, there might be positive side-effects of this big challenge. Investing in alternative energy research, production and provision will lead to better cost- effectiveness, more knowledge and probably more funding in the near future. An earlier return on (primary) investment / amortisation of investment in a more advanced construction or renovation technology will be possible. The realisation of low energy consumption will be more attractive. A growing market for alternative products will again lead to lower costs. More ‘advanced’ countries and cities already support innovative measures and succeed in lowering the costs by ‘building up a market’. EU and national regulations on Low Energy Consumption underpin these efforts. Consumers are increasingly informed regarding adequate behaviour and motivated by incentives. This could result in decisive steps forward towards an environmentally sustainable housing linked with cost reduction. On the other hand, with the current credit crunch and reading the prospects on a world-wide recession nobody dares to make any prophecy of a sustainable future. A.4 Integrated policy? It was a hard task to describe the state of the art of such a complex issue as Housing and Social Housing in Europe’ in the predetermined small framework of this Baseline Study. I had to cover a wide spectrum to show the broad variety of demands on housing and to stress its role for both social inclusion and for a sustainable environment in our cities. In both fields, the challenge is big, and will again increase under the current threats of a worldwide recession. Furthermore, Member States face a different scale of needs. Cities in New Member States very urgently have to find step by step solutions for housing large vulnerable groups, while cities in Old Member States can mostly profit from about 60 years of economic growth and socially acceptable housing policy. However, also in the ladder living conditions, demographic, economic and

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environmental conditions have worsened and there is a lack of appropriate innovative policies and programmes to face changing needs. This raises the danger that ad-hoc solutions stand in the foreground and that a further subdivision of the housing market, respectively the social housing market, would be promoted. Under the umbrella of ‘affordability’ “Low standard housing for poor people’ and ‘Better standard (nowadays integrating high environmental standard) for the better off’ could be the choice. This might be attractive for short-term policy, which needs early results, but would have negative consequences on all levels. Above all for people in housing needs respectively residents, who would again be stuck in a dead end housing segment (see chapter A.2.1 and A.2.3) and suffer even more from the rise of running costs (see chapter A.3.3), but also for municipalities (conurbations) such as those responsible for a balanced housing policy. Rising running costs would increase the need for housing or social allowances or other supporting measures. The energy balance of the city or conurbation would not meet the requirements, downward spirals with all their negative consequences would continue, the social and environmental, ecological attractiveness of the city, and with it its competitiveness would decrease. Very soon, further regeneration needs would be on the doorstep. Of course, it is not easy, neither to plan nor to finance integrated new construction and above all regeneration of the old stock that fulfils all demands: to be affordable, accessible and socially inclusive, with a mixed population, a comprehensive infrastructure, to be attractive and have an up-to-date level of low energy consumption and high environmental quality in a broad sense. Especially the last condition still requires higher initial investment, but examples of good practice can be found on European level to show how it can work. To sum up, we should join our efforts to fight both climate change and poverty.

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1 It would be helpful for dealing with knowledge used for URBACT projects, and for the work of the The- matic Poles, to create links to the scientific discussion on building an ‘Urban Knowledge Arena’ (in the framework of an EU Research Cooperation COST). Nolmark, H., Muir, T., Andersen, H.T., Troeva, V., Schmeidler, K.; Cost Action C20 Urban Knowledge Arena,; Interim Report 12/2007. 2 In this study, I will refer to several comprehensive studies on housing in different parts of Europe. They are mentioned later. Citation here: Donner (2006). 3 One of the most famous typologies is Esping-Andersen’s typology of welfare states, which provides a good basis, but as with all typology, it is really only a snapshot of a reality constantly in movement, and it is currently under discussion because there is a growing diversity of policy. To know more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esping_Andersen and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state. The Esping- Andersen model is also used in a study on ‘the importance of housing systems in safeguarding social co- hesion in Europe’ (SOCOHO, EU FP 5, 2005, edited by K. Czasny from SRZ, the Lead Expert’s institute; see http://www.srz-gmbh.com/socoho/report/index.html .) 4 Germans use the term 'Schweinezyklus' for this special cycle. Grateful for hints on the respective English term! (http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Schweinezyklus , http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweinezyklus 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol 6 E.g. remember Godin’s Familistère in Guise. http://www.familistere.com/site/english/utopia/prog_utopia.php , or the Phalanstères http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanst%C3%A8re 7 This problem of definition is very common in scientific and practice-oriented discussion. To get a first overview, see a paper from C. Donner for a UNECE Conference in 2004, www.europaforum.or.at/site/HomepageUNECE/Paper_Session1_Donner.pdf 8 ECHP European Community Household Panel, since 2002 replaced by EU-SILC Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. 99 See, for Whitehead et al www.lse.ac.uk/collections/LSELondon/pdf/SocialHousingInEurope.pdf, for Czischke et al http://www.cecodhas.org/images/stories/research/he2007_en.pdf (also in French), for M. Lux http://seb.soc.cas.cz/publikace_download/lgi_en.htm for C. Donner: http://www.donner.at/christian/html/e_core.html for K. Czasny see http://www.srz-gmbh.com/socoho/report/index.html. 10 ENHR www.enhr. http://www.enhr.ibf.uu.se/ , see especially the papers from the conferences, or become a member and subscribe to the newsletter. CECODHAS Housing Observatory http://www.cecodhas.org/content/view/73/114/ 11 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-fordism . 12 See Donner, C. (2006) and Lux, M. (2003), l.c.. 13 A very competent EU-level study on this issue, outlining the various legal instruments and providing a critical analysis is Kenna, Padraic; Housing Rights and Human Rights; FEANTSA (ed.), Brussels 2005. 14 Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community (EC) for research and technological devel- opment for the period 2007 to 2013. Relevant fields mainly: Socio-economic Sciences and the Humanities , Environment (including Climate Change), see http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/index_en.cfm . 15 Studies can be found on http://www.esf.org/research-areas/social-sciences.html . 16 URBACT Programme participates in this European initiative (http://www.eukn.org/eukn/) and provides links to EUKN information on its website. 17 http://www.iut.nu/ http://www.cecodhas.org/ ; http://www.eurocities.org/main.php ; Numerous studies and journals on the website http://www.feantsa.org ; http://www.socialplatform.org/ the Platform of European Social NGOs is the alliance of representative European federations and networks of non- governmental organisations active in the social sector. http://www.age-platform.org/ most of the web- links provide information in several languages. A-18

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1818 http://www.unece.org/hlm/welcome.html, http://www.ifhp.org/content/view/21/81/ Generating knowl- edge in working parties and big conferences. ENHR http://www.enhr.ibf.uu.se/, annual conferences on Housing. 19 A very helpful link to related (and much broader) issues provides http://www.wikipreneurship.eu . Or see directly http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/regional_policy/index_en.htm and http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/feder/index_en.htm . Also the URBACT website www.urbact.eu provides numerous links. 20 A critical analysis and comment on this process – Tosics, Iván, Negotiating with the Commission: the debates on the ‘housing element’ of the Structural Funds; can be found in the pilot of the scientific jour- nal ‘urban research and practice’ (ed. Ron Atkinson), Routledge, 2008. see www.informaworld.com . 21 To get further information, look at the implementing regulation here. CECODHAS is currently preparing a guide for housing projects in Eastern Europe. We thank them for providing up-to-date information on the issue.

22 Within the ESF EQUAL Programme, there have been some training projects related to the housing field. 23 See also EAPN (the European Anti-Poverty Network): ‘The debate on poverty in the EU is often closely associated with “social exclusion”. The term social exclusion is used to emphasise the processes which push people to the edge of society, which limit their access to resources and opportunities, curtail their participation in normal social and cultural life leaving them feeling marginalised, powerless and discrimi- nated against. Another common term associated with poverty is “vulnerability”. People are in a vulnerable situation when their personal well-being is put at risk because they lack sufficient resources, are at risk of being in debt, suffer poor health, experience educational disadvantage and live in inadequate housing and envi- ronment. These are important related concepts. However, not all people who are socially excluded or vulnerable are poor. see http://www.eapn.eu/content/view/33/52/. 24 There are several reports from European Union Institutions, see http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu which provide ‘Poverty reports’. A very short overview is provided by EAPN, http://www.eapn.eu/content/view/57/55/lang,en/ 25 L.c. EAPN . 26 Among other studies, Czasny K. and Moser P. (SRZ) (ed.) on ‘The Importance of Housing Systems in Safeguarding Social Cohesion in Europe (SOCOHO), 2004. www.srz-gmbh.com/socoho . 2727 ESF in many languages: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/esf/ 28 See the Eurobarometer for your country http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb69/eb69_en.htm 29 Within an EU-project, AURORA. Together against poverty. the author of this study has carried out a survey among experts on awareness of this process. A deficit of information was deployed, but the com- pliance with EU policies and the level of expectance was high. See www.aurora-austria.eu (abstract in English). 30 Further information 31 Policy measures to ensure access to decent housing for migrants and ethnic minorities (2006) http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/publications/booklets/social_security/social_security_2005_en.ht m, Roma, studies, see http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/fundamental_rights/roma/rabout_en.htm 32 Just some hints – trans-national exchange: the author of this Baseline Study coordinate an international project on the Homelessness issue, COOP, see http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/spsi/homelessness_en.htm and www.srz-gmbh.com/coop ; some pilot projects regarding the housing sector were funded under the Community Initiative EQUAL http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/equal/index_en.cfm , FEANTSA roof organisation is funded and A-19

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provides broad information on housing exclusion, et al. the ETHOS definition of homelessness www.feantsa.org .

33 http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/emplweb/news/news_en.cfm?id=326 34 Joint Reports and National Strategic Reports on http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/spsi/joint_reports_en.htm. 35 For details and downloads: http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/socialpolicies/socialrights/. 36 Used as a basis for parts of this chapter and cited: Czischke, D. (ed. and author) (CECODHAS European Social Housing Observatory); Housing affordability in the European Union; research briefing; 03/2008. 37 A broad range of publications on these issues are available, on a trans-national and on a national to local level, various conferences and workshops discussed them. Listing relevant material would go beyond the scope of this small Baseline Study. 38 See also FP 7 Research, Environment. 39 Although there is a current re-definition of this role, regarding it’s social value for services and community building. See chapter A.2.. 40 See for example the precedent Green paper for energy efficiency discussion http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/index_en.htm, and some basics on the Certificate and, as an example, the UK HIP Home Information Pack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_performance_certificate 41 Most recently the Conference "Sustainable Energy and Social Housing " April 2008 Ancona, Italy. More information from CECODHAS European Liaison Committee for Social Housing see http://www.cecodhas.org/content/view/263/206/ and click here to view some examples of their members' best practice in the field of constructing environmentally sustainable housing. A download on the Experts Network: http://www.cecodhas.org/images/stories/MemberDocs/EnergyExperts/cecodhas%20energy%20experts% 20network%20briefing.pdf 42 September 2008 in Geneva. See the press release ‘Climate change and rising oil prices: Why energy efficiency in housing is crucial’ on http://www.unece.org/press/pr2008/08env_p13e.htm .

43 See http://concertoplus.eu, and, as an example act2 – City of Nantes with the development of the Ile de Nantes http://concertoplus.eu/CMS/content/view/45 . 44 As a last example, for German readers: Foerster, Wolfgang, Energieeffiziente Wohnkultur: Bauen und Sanieren in Wien. (Energy efficient culture of living. construction and rehabilitation in Vienna). In: ÖIR, raum 71/2008, Klimaschutz durch Raumordnung. (climate protection by spatial planning). http://www.raum-on.at . 45 Part of the EU Research Programme 2007-2013, EU Directorate for Energy and Transport http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/index_en.html , which builds on the results of the Gothenburg- Conference 2007 ‘Towards an Energy Efficient City’ and the Sustainable Energy Week 2008 http://www.eusew.eu/page.cfm?page=events&selEvent=81 46 CIP aims to encourage the competitiveness of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). …. It will also promote the increased use of renewable energies and energy efficiency. More about CIP see http://ec.europa.eu/cip/index_en.htm.

47 EU directive 2006/32/EG . http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32006L0032:EN:NOT

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B Partner Profiles

EUROPEAN UNION European Regional Development Fund

B. Partner profiles The backbone of a network are the qualities, the expectations and the commitment of the partners. Phase I of an URBACT project is dominated by a most interesting, but also challenging process. Team-building, developing a common understanding and the first joint work on drafting a comprehensive work programme are the first tests. Step by step the team has grown from the original five partners to a bigger group, using communication of a different kind: structured and unstructured information, meetings, thousands of emails, lots of phone calls and the partner visits by the Lead Expert. The partner profiles collected in this Baseline Study are the results of a repeated process, feeding in and feeding out. They already served as an essential basis for the compression of the issue and the selection of key questions, the ‘synthesis’ and the requirements of the application form. The collection at hand comprises information from eleven partners (in alphabetic order)1: Albacete, Spain Hamburg, Germany Iasi, Romania Krakow, Poland Medway Council, UK Nantes Métropole , France Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Rennes Métropole, France Santiago de Compostela, Spain (Lead Partner) Siemianowice Slaskie, Poland Tallinn, Estonia

It provides information on: I. Partner Details II. Local Context III. State of Policy and Implementation IV. SUITE Project: Contribution and Expectation V. URBACT and EU-Involvement VI. Comments VII. Contact (For more detailed content-overview see next page, followed by a map of Europe showing the partners and a comment on the creation of partner profiles.)

1 Note: Very much to our regret, the team from the City of Albacete, who was preparing its participation in phase 2 together with the network from a very early moment and provided all papers, has had to with- draw from the network, as the necessary arrangements couldn’t be made in time. (Thus, the partner profile remains in Part B of the Baseline Study, and it is in the map of partners.)

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European Regional Development Fund

Overview content per partner profile:

I. Partner Details I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project I.2. Competences regarding housing II. Local Context II.1. Areas of responsibility II.2. Urban context (Local data / General situation) II.3. Housing context (Local housing data / main issues, challenges / definitions used in the ‘social housing’ context / main target population / environmental standards in housing) II.4. Land tenure context (Local data / main issues, challenges) III. State of Policy and Implementation III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives (developed, agreed / in elaboration or planned, discussed) III.2. Specific housing policies, actions and initiatives (developed, agreed / in elaboration or planned, discussed) III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives (developed, agreed / in elaboration or planned, discussed) III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives (developed, agreed / in elaboration or planned, discussed) IV. SUITE Project: Contribution and Expectation IV.1. Possible contribution IV.2. Main expectation IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan V. URBACT and EU-Involvement V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds VI. Comments VII. Contact The partner profiles comprise approximately ten pages each. The annex contains:

- A collective matrix on the structure of competences regarding housing in the participating municipalities.

- An example of a filled matrix on expectations and proposed contributions of the partners.

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Some remarks on creating partner profiles The SUITE project started from the beginning – i.e. during the work on the Declaration of Interest, last year – with collecting information by means of a questionnaire (thanks to the primary promoter of the project’s idea – Nantes Métropole). Thus at the start of phase I, a good basis for first insight was already given. This well-structured format, focused on the housing issue, also served as a tool to select appropriate partners for phase II from the long list of applicants (firstly, because the commitment to fill in a comprehensive questionnaire expressed the extent of their interest, secondly, because we could jointly check and decide).

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Based on the results of two matrices, which were collected following a kick-off meeting decision (see the annex of Part B), on experience from some first partner visits and on the guidelines from the URBACT secretariat, the Lead Expert (LE) developed a revised version of the original questionnaire, the presented ‘partner profile’, still more focused on a clear structure, comparability and the main groups of issues agreed to date. The template contained numerous hints on a targeted completion. The LE also provided links to comparable background information on all national policies2. The team agreed on the use of selected and most recent as possible local data. 3 The LE visited all partners (eleven until shortly before the deadline) and a European thematic network which will provide external expertise. These visits were intensively used for several purposes, among which some time was reserved for Q and A regarding the partner profile. Early delivered profiles served as models for others. It was crucial for the success of the visits that in a preparatory phase there was a two- way exchange of information between the LE and the core team of the partner (European and national to the partner, local and national to the LE). Thus, both had a basic understanding before the visit, which deepened the discussion on the numerous presentations and site visits during the partner visit. All of these together formed the basis for the completion of the partner profiles and the application.4 Around the visits and until the final works before the deadline, a repeated exchange and common discussion on an appropriate selection of stakeholders was carried out. The LE met numerous potential members of ULSG during her visits. The preliminary results can be seen in part C of this study and in the application. They do not form a part of the partner profile. There was also joint analysis of Operational Programmes, a difficult issue regarding housing, see part A and part C, but there are almost no explicit comments in the partner profiles yet. Finally, after intensive discussion the network succeeded in including at least some Managing Authorities in the project. The LE thanks all partners for their patient work and reworking of their profiles. The profiles were an indispensable basis for the draft of the issues to work on in phase 2 and the work programme and will provide information for phase II.

2 Czischke, D. (CECODHAS Housing Observatory); Housing Europe 2007. 3 Although seven partner cities provide data in the Urban Audit, we didn’t use these data except for a first internal overview. Being from 2004 or older, they are outdated; especially regarding housing costs, and too poor to provide the necessary background for our discussion. The cities dispose of sufficient up-to- date data on population (to understand the demand) and housing (the supply). 4 Partner Profiles contain links to more in depth information. Besides, a selection of pictures from visited cities can be found on the unrestricted website http://www.flickr.com/photos/28872267@N02/sets/ (SUITE2008). The various presentations and papers especially prepared for the LE visit will be accessible for all in phase II, it was not yet possible to provide these links for the Baseline Study.

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European Regional Development Fund SUITE TN Baseline Study 2008

PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: MUNICIPALITY OF ALBACETE

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: MUNICIPALITY OF ALBACETE. AYUNTAMIENTO DE ALBACETE. URBAN MANAGING OFFICE. GERENCIA DE URBANISMO DE ALBACETE

Type of organisation: http://www.albacete.com:89/default.aspx?alias=ayuntamiento -Local authority - other Member State (OMS/NMS) Old Member State Region Castilla - la Mancha Province / federal province / land Albacete City Albacete Convergence/Competitiveness Convergence Region Official partner in the network Albacete has cooperated unofficially from the draft of the D.O.I. - From phase 1 - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project Details department of Housing The Municipal Urban Managing Office is a self- governing municipal department with his own juridical personality. Its department for urbanism / purpose and competences in the aspects related to SUITE urban planning … project are: department housing/urbanism • Define the pattern of urban developments department for EU Affairs • Promote urban development of the city according other department(s) to the Urban City Planning other institution(s) • Provide land for housing according social needs • Protect and carry out the environmental normative • Every kind of urban licences

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The Municipality keeps the following competences: • Approve the tools for urban planning • Approve the budgets

Responsible councillor Councillor of European Affairs

I.2. Competences regarding housing Scope of activities, URVIAL is a public company in charge of managing the municipal fields of intervention subsided housing. in housing matters The Social Department is in charge of financial aids for individuals, defined target groups, allocation of housing to individuals, groups or minorities. (see also the Matrix ‘Competences’ in part 2 of The Urban Managing Office carries out the State Law about the Baseline study) environmental standards. Regional Government defines the quantified objectives of

construction rehabilitation. By now only in historical centres and old city quarters

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Area 20 km2 Population 168.078 inhab. (2007) Metropolitan area 1140 km2 council territory. or similar Albacete is the most populated city in the Region of Castilla –la other, Council Mancha. Its population accounts for 41.2% of the entire province Territory and 8.63% of the population of Castilla- la Mancha (1.734.261 inhabitants). It is the only municipality in all Castilla- la Mancha with

more than 100.000 inhabitants and there is no other larger population centre within a radius of 150km.

http://www.albacete.com:89/site/649/default.aspx?alias=ayuntamiento

II.2. Urban context

A. Local data

demographics http://www.albacete.com:89/DesktopModules/Ciudadania/DetallesFicha.as

px?tabID=649&item=61&mid=3326&alias=ayuntamiento

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population, households

Population (2007) Total 168078 Female 84904 Percentage 50.5 %

age breakdown (..) …………… percentages ethnicity (year..): …... percentages Individuals receiving social benefits (year): percentage Unemployment rate (2007): Percentage 8.07 % population growth (from (year) to (year)) Link above recent

(from (year) to (year)) percentage future

Households (2001) 48753 single households 8640 Percentage 17.72 %

couples 10889 Percentages 22.34 % families 29224 Percentages 59.94 % (among them big families) 6887 Percentages 14.12 % Households receiving social benefits 1162 percentage 2.38 % Households receiving housing benefits (allowances) (year): percentage

http://www.ine.es/ B. General situation The 97% of its inhabitants live in the city itself and the rest in small villages of a rural nature.

In comparison with the rest of the provincial capitals in this region,

it is the only one that has grown steadily since 1940. The city of Albacete has consolidated its position as regional leader from the demographical point of view. With regarding to the features of the population pyramid, the municipal district of Albacete is characterized by a low birth rate and a fall in the youth index. The ageing index has increased by two per cent in each decade and the trend in the dependency index is for it to decrease. Foreign account almost 6 % of the population of Albacete. Approximately half the growth in the population that has taken place in the last seven years has been the result of the arrival of foreign nationalities. The highest proportion of immigrant population is located in the most disadvantages neighbourhoods.

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II.3. Housing context A. Local housing data Stocks and proportions (2001): 67.448, 877 publics and 66.569 private. 1.30% and 98.7 % Ownership 23.937 49.10% ownership and already paid 1.308 2.68% inherited 15.782 32.375 with a mortgage Total 41.027 84.15 % Others 5.510 11.30 % rented 1.162 2.38% transferred at low cost 1.054 2.16% other Publicly funded represent the 10 % of the total 13.879 apartment blocks. Average 5 floors. The 85 % of this blocks have been built during the last 50 years. During the last 5 years the new housing states are mainly detached and semi-detached houses. URVIAL (2005/2008)´ 267 for sale/ year 11 for rent/ year Have to add the regional dwellings.

http://www.albacete.com:89/site/424/actualidad.aspx?alias=urvial Costs and prices: - Average squared meter rent price for social housing (Euro!, year) 4 € /m2 - average actual construction cost / m² for social housing (Euro, year) 600 € / m2 (to compare: average actual market construction cost / m² for housing (Euro, year) or similar) 1100 € / m2

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B. Main issues, Identification of specific needs according to the family models challenges (age, immigrants, broken families, …) (with a focus on the Adjusting the housing storage to new needs, not only with the role of ‘publicly funded new ones, but also with existents, to avoid the creation of new housing’) ghettos.

Standardisation of high quality construction to reduce the ecological paw Housing and immigrants

C. Definitions used in The total of publicly funded housing is social housing. the ‘social housing URVIAL is a public company in charge of building social context’ housing in the land provided by the Municipality and the most of them are ownership.

D. Main target Youth, low income families, ethnic minorities, women victims of population physical abused, disabled people, mono parental families, big families.

E. Environmental There is a National Code which lays down the rules for new standards in housing buildings according to European Directives about energy – efficiency, environmental measures, etc… It was approved in Main issues, 2006. challenges

II.4. Land tenure context A. Local data Since 2004, there is a regional urban law that set that the reserves for social housing must be more than 50% over the

total. - Average land market price / m² for housing (Euro, year) (2008) 200 € / m2 - Maximum land market price / m² sold to housing developers for social housing (Euro, year) (2008) 275 € / m2 - Maximum allowed land price / m² for social housing (Euro, year) 25% selling price 5

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B. Main issues, The State legislates about environmental standard and the challenges Urban Managing Office caries out the State Law.

III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives A. Developed / The General City Planning is the tool to establish urban policy. It is one agreed of the Municipal competences. It must be approved by the Regional Government.

The “Plan de Ordenación Territorial (POT)” is a tool to coordinate the

development of several municipalities within the same metropolitan area. The focus of our metropolitan area is the city of Albacete. A Regional Law lays down that the 10% of what is allowed to built up must be transfer to the Municipality and also a percentage of green – field sites for public facilities such as schools, public health clinics and

green areas. The Municipality provides the land and URVIAL built up the social houses.

http://www.albacete.com:89/site/740/default.aspx?alias=ayuntamiento

B. In elaboration The Regional Government and mainly the municipality or planned

C. Discussed Both urban planning should be coordinate between all the municipalities, public administrations, the regional government and

citizens. III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / New developments have to reserve a 50% of the total housing for agreed social housing within the same area in order to mix different social and economic levels people and to create affordable housing.

Public and private promotion of social housing. The public areas in buildings have to be adapted for disable people, as well as it must be reserve a 3% of the social housing for this people. Public founds for rehabilitation. The municipality has promoted punctual actions in order to regenerate neighbourhood trough urbanization of free land and creation of new facilities (schools, medical centres, theatres…) 6

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B. In elaboration The National Government provides the public founds for social housing. or planned The Regional Government put the rules and promote political housing actions according with the municipalities.

In Albacete, URVIAL executes its own housing plans. C. Discussed Actions are coordinated with citizens, Public Administrations and Private companies which are involved in housing process. III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / National and regional laws focus in how to get sustainable agreed communities. With this proposal, two years ago it was approved a National Code which includes all the rules to take account in the

construction of new buildings, specially about energy efficient. Also, the urban planning laws set up in the new urban development a reserve of the 18% of the land for green areas and a 20% of the land for public facilities. There is an environmental local rules and urban regional rules in order to manage in a efficient way the natural resources (land, water, nature, landscape…)

B. In elaboration National, regional and local administrations in coordination with or planned European Directives.

C. Discussed Actions are coordinated with citizens, Public Administrations and Private companies which are involved in housing process.

III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / In new developments, the private developers have to give to the agreed: municipality free land for green spaces, facilities and social housing (10% over the total built).

Expropriation Programmes are not very usual. Urban plan set up the areas that are going to be for public and general interests and so, it is possible to begin the expropriation.

B. In elaboration Municipality or planned:

C. Discussed: Actions are coordinated with citizens, Public Administrations and Private companies which are involved in housing process.

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IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Deepen in our laws which allows the Municipality to be provided with land and green-field sites. -social

- environmental - land

(see also the Matrix ‘Contributions and expectations’ in part 2 of the Baseline study) IV.2. Main expectation issue: To develop higher level of sustainable housing provision with a high environmental quality. -social

- environmental - land

(see also the Matrix ‘Contributions and expectations’ in part 2 of the Baseline study)

IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: (to be completed) - social

- environmental refers to: whole area part district quarter, neighbourhood one site, estate

V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group

URBANITAS Urban ruptures (2005-2007) Anderlecht, partner 8

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V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group phase 1 phase 2 V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) Convocatoria URBANA V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - Norway, Switzerland - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) -Transnational cooperation areas

- other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Programme ..)

VI. COMMENTS -

VII. CONTACT Contact person: Margarita Felipe Navarro Phone / fax: 00 34 967 192600

Mail contact: [email protected]

Spoken Language(s): Spanish and English

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: HAMBURG

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: Ministry for social-, family-, health policy and consumer protection (Behörde für Soziales. Familie, Gesundheit und Verbraucherschutz) Plus Ministry for Urban Development and the Environment (Phase II, Phase I) Lawaetz-Foundation

Type of organisation: The Ministry for social-, family-, health policy and consumer protection Hamburg is one key-actor within the -Local authority policy field of socially city development approaches in - other Hamburg and responsible for the strategies of social integration in the area of the federal state of Hamburg. The city of Hamburg is both: federal state and metropole region. On the regional level (so called Bezirke), the regional departments are – among other - responsible for housing and local development. http://www.hamburg.de/bsg

Member State (OMS/NMS) Germany Region Hamburg Province / federal province / land Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg City Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg

Convergence/Competitiveness Competitiveness Region

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Official partner in the network The City of Hamburg is partner in phase one as well as in phase two - From phase 1

- From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project Details department of Housing Amt für Familie (Office of Family) department for urbanism / urban planning … Ministry f. Social-, Family-, Health Policy and Consumer Protection department housing/urbanism Ad"Project - Leadership" department for EU Affairs

other department(s) Johann Daniel Lawaetz - Foundation "Project - Management and Networking" other institution(s)

Local Support Group Housing Companies Tenants and owners (local actors)

Responsible councillor Elected Senator (Minister) responsible for social-, family-, health policy and consumer protection

I.2. Competences regarding housing Scope of activities, The main tasks of the Office of Housing, urban renewal and fields of intervention land are in housing matters - the establishment of bases in the housing policy, - securing the housing stock and the promotion of building houses,

- development of medium-and long-term concepts and programmes in the housing sector - modernization and repair of housing stock, - Development of strategic instruments, in particular for better housing,

- cooperation agreements with the housing industry, (see also the Matrix ‘Competences’ in part - supervision of the district offices in the area of the 2 of the Baseline study) housing sector and the urban renewal

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The main tasks of the Office of Housing, urban renewal and land are - development and management of urban development programme (Urban redevelopment, urban redevelopment, Hamburg Area Development Programme / Social city), - preparation of social conservation regulations and other urban renewal tasks - preparation of urban development activities,

- Legal Affairs for land planning and urban renewal and - legal and technical supervision of the district offices. The Lawaetz foundation is an intermediary company in the field of urban development and labour market policy. It has broad experience in: - Urban development programmes in different districts and quarters since 1990 - Consulting building and housing cooperatives (Baubetreuung) - Building low energy and passive houses in cooperatives

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Area 755,3 km2 Population 1 754 182 inhab. (2006) Metropolitan area Hamburg is the second biggest city in Germany and the centre of the or similar northern Germany metropole region around the city. As a City and federal state it as a major role in the federal republic. other, i.e. http://172.16.1.1/squivi2/htdocs/squivi.cgi/seqf_13032/proto_http/done_1/J …………………… ………. B07HH_Gesamt.pdf#bottom

II.2. Urban context

A. Local data Population (2007) total 1.770.629 female percentage 51,1% 17,5% under 20 63,6% 20-65 age breakdown …………… percentages 18,9% over 65 ethnicity (2006.): …... percentages 14,2% Individuals receiving social benefits (2006): percentage 12,3% Unemployment rate (2006): percentage 11,0% population growth (from (1990) to (2006) percentage 6,2% (from (2006) to (2020)) percentage 3,4%

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Households (2006) 957.000 single households percentage 50% couples percentages 26% families percentages 24% (among them big families) percentages Households receiving social benefits (2006): percentage 11,7% Households receiving housing benefits (allowances) (2006): percentage 1,6%

http://www.statistik-nord.de/index.php?id=552

Over five years, the Hamburg Senate Mission "Metropolis Hamburg - B. General situation Growing City". The success of this strategy is now visible in different areas. Both the population and economic growth are above average, the port of Hamburg regularly reached new record sales, the science development policy has been successfully strengthened. These

successes are also increasing attention nationally, even internationally, Hamburg as a metropolis emerging perceived. Growth and prosperity achieved not all parts and groups of the population alike. Like many other big cities Hamburg is faced with the problem of social segregation. Though the city (and too the region) belongs to the richest one in Europe – in terms of economical development and gross income in average – there is a gap between rich and poor districts. Deprived areas could be described typically by following characteristics: • unemployment among people aged 15 to 25 and 55 to 65 • people with social income • percentage of emigrants • households with kids • one person households • crime rate • fluctuation in social housing estates http://www.hamburg.de/sprung-ueber-die-elbe/75196/sprung-ueber-die-elbe- start.html

http://www.hamburg.de/wachsende-stadt/ II.3. Housing context A. Local housing Stocks and proportions (2006): data Accommodation total 870.000 100.0

Personal property 435.000 50.0

cooperative societies 130.000 14.9 (Genossenschaften in Germany) 31 cooperative societies are in Hamburg

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SAG/GWG (housing companies) 135.000 15.5

Owner self occupied 170.000 19.5

870.000 100.0

among them Council flats 134.000 15.4

Over the whole City area diverse structure of all different housing characteristics. Typical urban renewal areas are blocks and multi- storey buildings. Between 2003 and 2007 about 1.600 social housing were built each year (average), but much more housing were converted from social housings to normal housings because of the loss of public grant. http://www.wk-hamburg.de/index.php?id=148 Costs and prices: - Average squared meter rent price for social housing (Euro, year) 2007: Between 5,60 € and 6,80 € (depends on income) without ad. costs - average actual construction cost / m² for social housing (Euro, year) 2007: 1.200 € per m² (without land and basement garage) B. Main issues, National Level: challenges Housing and energy costs increase significantly in Germany, both in (with a focus on the the metropolis and in the rural regions. Therefore the national role of ‘publicly government gives grants for ecological building via their national funded housing’) institutions and banks. The federal ministry of transport, building and urban affairs runs programmes to strengthen the socially integration in the city by financing the social city programme.

Hamburg as a growing city: Hamburg intends to grow significantly by running an active policy to settle young families in different structures of housing. Mostly these families are coming from the metropolis region of Hamburg to live and work in the city. Space is rear so the preparation of land for building concentrates on small and individual places within the area of the City of Hamburg. New houses have to be affordable for target groups (families) and so the building of single-houses and multi- storey buildings in one site with different kinds of ownerships and financing structures are important issues of the urban development actors.

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Hamburg as an ecological sustainable city: Hamburg has implemented several Co² reduction programmes besides the national thermic insulation grants. In this context, the so called KFW 40 and KFW 60 standards are supplemented by regional programme. Hamburg as a socially integrative city: Besides the construction of new buildings the urban renewal programmes still have to reach different districts and areas to rebuilt the housing in a socially and ecologically way. Socially improvement and sustainable renovation are the urgent issues in these quarters. Important aspects in this context are:

o special solutions for middle class households (including new instruments for financing social housing projects)

o ‘up-grading of housing stock to future orientated requirements;

o public-private partnership o implementation of general services appropriate housing for the mobile workforce (concerning the uncertainty of the labour market)

C. Definitions used Social housing refers to buildings or sites for socially disadvantaged in the ‘social people or people with less income. These housings have a specific housing context’ rent and can be inhabited by these people. Publicly funded housing also can be private owned buildings, e.g. the funded ecological buildings. Besides this we have different tailor-made mixes for different target groups like building collectives (Baugemeinschaften) or cooperatives with different members who are involved in a building and housing community.

D. Main target Hamburg as a growing city: Young families coming from Hamburg population and the metropolis region and working as high potentials in companies

Hamburg as an ecological sustainable city: People who intent to build houses on their own and in building cooperatives, owners of buildings Hamburg as a socially integrative city: Owners of blocks, all people living in the districts/ quarters, other actors in the districts/ quarters

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E. Environmental All buildings that are heated or cooled with energy have to keep a standards in national standard of the regulation energy saving heat insulation and housing – technique in buildings (Verordnung über energiesparenden Main issues, Wärmeschutz und energiesparende Anlagentechnik bei Gebäuden/ challenges Energieeinsparverordnung - EnEV). Otherwise they won’t get the permission to be built. Besides this, we have different national standards defined by different levels of energy demands. The so called “Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau” gives different building loans if these standards are kept. The Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) promotes in the programme "Ecological Construction" new improved energy quality than so-called "KfW 60-houses" with discounted loans. In Hamburg, this promotion is operated by the WK. KfW 60 house: The energy demand has to be 30% lower than the EnEV-Standard KfW 40 house: The energy demand has to be 45% lower than the EnEV-Standard. For KfW houses, the overall ecological balance is important (incl. the resource production) Passive house: The energy demand has to be less than 15 kWh/m²*a and the house has to contain a special technique for aeration and heating.

II.4. Land tenure context A. Local data Average land market price / m² for housing: 310 € (2008) There is no specific maximum price for the land of social housing. The overall maximum price for social housing (incl. house and land and all other costs) is around 2.500 €.

B. Main issues, One of the main issues in Hamburg is the social mix in disadvantaged challenges districts/ quarters concerning the strengthening of social capital among inhabitants and owners.

This means in the field of land tenure to build houses and multi-

storey buildings for young high potential families and also for socially disadvantaged people. For the municipality mixed development projects of tenants and owners are a feasible way. With several programmes e.g. for the district of Hamburg Wilhelmsburg (Spung über die Elbe, Wilhelmsburg- Neue Mitte) the municipality tries to promote this way. In some Districts, former barracks of the national army are currently converted into preparation for building land. These processes are quite longsome, but a strategic option for the municipality to settle young families in the districts.

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Of course, the financing of sites in public private partnership like in the district of the new harbour city is interesting for investors and the administration, because the ground/ land is rare and expensive. The social mix is also very important on the national level as you can see it in different programmes like the “Social City”.

III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives A. Developed / As general housing policies different programmes are developed and - agreed some for quite a long time yet – implemented in Hamburg: - Urban renewal programmes like the ‘Aktive Stadtteilentwicklung” for disadvantaged quarters - The programme “Wachsende Stadt” to increase the moving in of high potential families and companies - The programme of the district of harbour city (like the docklands in London) - The programme “Sprung über die Elbe” to develop the district of Hamburg Wilhelmsburg as a part of the inner city right on the other side of the river Elbe. B. In elaboration Further quarters in the urban renewal programmes and links to labour or planned market and social policies. C. Discussed III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Urban renewal programmes like the ‘Aktive Stadtteilentwicklung” for agreed disadvantaged quarters http://www.hamburg.de/stadtplanung/

B. In elaboration housing improvement districts or planned

C. Discussed housing improvement districts III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Ecological building funding programmes like the ‘Hamburger Klimaschutz agreed Programm’ and other funding programmes of the KfW http://www.hamburg.de/servlet/contentblob/417382/bauen- klimawandel/data.pdf

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C. Discussed III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / See III 1 to 3 agreed:

B. In elaboration or planned: C. Discussed: IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Hamburg’s contributions are focussed on solutions on ecological and affordable building on one hand. We have experiences in -social realising sustainable low-energy standards in the context of the - environmental realisation of mixed ownership and tenement houses/ flats - land quarters.

(see also the Matrix In this context a social mix of owners and tenants is intended to ‘Contributions and expectations’ stabilise quarters, also in the context of regional and national in part 2 of the Baseline study) urban renewal programmes. IV.2. Main expectation issue: Hamburg expects to receive information and experience in achieving sustainable social mixes of tenants in typical social -social housing areas. - environmental How can we realise that mix and how can we administrate the - land conditions of entry for tenants in a lean way? (see also the Matrix ‘Contributions and expectations’ in part 2 of the Baseline study)

IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: - social Exchange the contributions and expectations of all partners by using the - environmental matrices. refers to:

whole area

part district quarter, neighbourhood

one site, estate

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V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group none V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group phase 1 none phase 2 V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) Lawaetz-Foundation The Lawaetz-Foundation is a technical assistance agency for the ESF since 1990. Broad experience in labour market policy and

connected actions in districts and quarters. Also innovative measures in ESF Art.6 Ministry for Urban The Ministry for Urban Development and the Environment Development and the Hamburg ´has experience in running EFRE programmes in Environment Hamburg St. Pauli. V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - Norway, Switzerland - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) -Transnational cooperation areas - other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Programme ..) VI. COMMENTS

VII. CONTACT Contact person: Peer Gillner Phone / fax: 0049 40 39 99 36 54 Mail contact: [email protected] Spoken Language(s): German, English

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: IASI

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: City Hall of Iasi (Primaria Municipiului Iasi) Type of organisation: Management authority within Regional Operational Pro- gram establish that Iasi city is part of the group of those - Local authority 8 cities which are growth poles and which will benefit of - other a preferential finance through Axe 1 ROP Member State (OMS/NMS) NMS Region North East Region (Regiunea Nord-est) Province / federal province / land Iasi County City Iasi Convergence/Competitiveness Region Official partner in the network From phase 2 - From phase 1 - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project Details department of Housing The Technical Office, Department of Urban Administra- tion (Directia Tehnica) department for urbanism / urban planning … The GIS Service (Geographical Informational System ) department housing/urbanism The Survey Department (Directia control) department for EU Affairs The Urbanism Department (Serviciul Urbanism) other department(s) Notices Department (Serviciul Avize) other institution(s) The Projection Office (Biroul Proiectare)

Department of Public and Private Land Property Admini- stration (Directia de Administrare a Patrimoniului Public Privat)

Responsible councillor Mayor of Iasi 1

City of IASI

SUITE TN Baseline Study 2008

I.2. Competences regarding housing

Scope of activities, The Technical Office, Department of Urban Administration controls fields of intervention and coordinates in collaboration with The Urban Development Of- in housing matters fice, the placement in intra-urban of the city of Iasi of technical- public networks and publicity boards, by correlating them with the public road placements , green spaces and other surfaces with other destinations, switching placements, etc The Public Develop- ment Office is subordinated to the Vice mayor and is made of the following compartments: (see also the Matrix The GIS Service (Geographical Informational System) that has the ‘Competences’ in part 2 following attributions: the acquisition , processing and management of the Baseline study) of the geo-referential information, creation of applications of gen- eral interest in GIS environment for the Technical Departments And Public Services.

The Survey Department-elaborates the sheets with surfaces that are in property and sends them to O.C.A.O.T.A. and picks up prop- erty deeds; releases property deeds.

The Urbanism Department-elaborates urbanism certificates; elabo- rates construction approval certificates.

Notices Department; Sole Agreement-releases notices, urbanism certificates, and construction authorizations for technical-public works (water, sewerage, electric energy, public roads, phone ser- vices, etc.), for branching as well as for major works.

The Projection Office –elaborates documentation for the city sys- tematisation, urbanism plans: of detail, zone plans of small and medium level as well as re-parcelling projects, draws up projects for systematisation and investment projects of the municipality through-out public actions.

• Books all the social housing, affordable housing demands

• Elaborates the nominal lists in the order of the obtained scores and it gives scores in accordance to the legal criteri- ons.

• Elaborates decision projects, provisions regarding the hous- ing assignments.

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II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City City: Metropolitan area Area 94,7 (km2) Population 306 561 inhab. (2008) or similar Metropolitan area: other, i.e. Area 787,87 (km2) Population 397.800 inhab. (2008) …………………… ………. http://www.primaria-iasi.ro/content.aspx?lang=EN

http://www.zmi.ro/en/iasi_metropolitan_area.html

II.2. Urban context A. Local data demographics population, households

Population (2008) total Female 54%

1,2% ethnicity: …... Roma population Individuals receiving social benefits Unemployment rate 2,21%(2008) population growth (recent) 3,2% (future) 3,4%

Households 3012 single households 10% couples 15% families 75%

Households receiving social benefits : 20% Households receiving housing benefits (allowances) 193 families B. General situation Iasi is an important economic centre in Romania. It has an ac- tive trade in metals, medical antibiotics, textiles and clothing,

banking, wine, preserved meat. The city has also become an important IT sector centre, with many software companies and two universities that provide high quality graduate engineers. Iasi is also an important regional commercial. The Iasi city-

region has lower income, have lower formal Employment, have lower wages and the unemployment rate is 2,2%.

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II.3. Housing context A. Local housing data Stocks and proportions (year) Existing housing – 110.476

Public property – 2.347

Social houses – 923 In private property – 108.129 Liveable area (m2) – 3.985.611 Public area (m2) – 71.360 Private area (m2) – 3.914.251 Costs and prices: - Average actual construction cost / m² for social housing (Euro, year): 550-600 EUR for each built sq. m., which includes pro- ject, taxes, the building with complete construction elements and connections to basic utilities (water, sewage, electricity, gas), surface amenities (alleyways, parking places, green spaces) Average actual market construction cost / m² for housing (Euro, year) is about 650-750 EUR per sq. m.; the market selling price is about 1300 EUR.

B. Main issues, chal- There is a general shortage, but the groups most affected are lenges young families, people ousted from dwellings returned to former (with a focus on the owners, low-income and jobless families and people living in old role of ‘publicly buildings, whose technical parameters are dangerously low. funded housing’) Many citizens are not able to satisfy their housing needs without extra financial help. Some of this will have to come from better

targeted public subsidies. Social housing has been neglected as a result of the large-scale privatisation. However, the report emphasizes that there is a widespread need for social housing given the low incomes of large parts of the population and the

growing number of evictions, and in order to provide temporary accommodation to people who lose their homes in natural disasters.

Social housing is housing where the access is controlled by the C. Definitions used in existence of allocation rules favouring households that have the ‘social housing difficulties in finding accommodation in the market. context’ Social housing is housing of an adequate standard which is pro-

vided to rent (or on a shared ownership basis) at below market cost for households in need by Local Authorities operating on a basis of accepted and regulated standards of good practice in relation to physical conditions, management, allocation, equal opportunities and accountability to tenants and other stake- holders". 4

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D. Main Target population has to accomplish the following requirements: target population - people without housing - people with law salaries persons with monthly incomes per family member that didn’t exceed 122 Euro - people which never benefited of state support - both members of the family have to got their stable residence in Iasi. E. Environmental stan- Current standards and regulations on national level: dards in housing – - all new and rehabilitated buildings must be provided Main issues, with highly efficient thermic insulation and installations challenges - there is on course a 2/3 publicly-funded programme for thermic rehabilitation of poorly insulated old buildings - most multi-dwelling buildings (old and new alike) are provided with local low-scale heating units, instead of the outdated and energy-wasting centralised system - the environment quality must be enhanced by applying certain quotas of green space per built sq. m. - all new buildings’ projects must include at least 1 park- ing place per dwelling unit

II.4. Land tenure context A. Local data Average land market price / m² for housing Land market registers price increases even with 50%.

Maximum land market price / m² sold to housing developers for social housing. For now the practiced prices for lands changes with the utilities and streets access, land type( inter or extra urban), the ap- proach of the populated areas and different other factors. Inter urban land price is starting from 150 – 300 Euro in half centre area, being able to attain until 800 – 1000 Euro per m² in ultra central areas. For those lands which are in extra urban areas, the prices per m² are lower, oscillating in average between 10 and 30 Euro per m².

B. Main issues, Problems: The lack of jobs and a regular income, the reduced challenges degree of education and of social assistance Many citizens are not able to satisfy their housing needs without

extra financial help. Some of this will have to come from better targeted public subsidies. Social housing has been neglected as a result of the large-scale privatisation. However, the report emphasizes that there is a widespread need for social housing

given the low incomes of large parts of the population and the 5 City of IASI

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growing number of evictions, and in order to provide temporary accommodation to people who lose their homes in natural disasters. Prices on the real estate market in Iaşi are increasing. The reasons for this increase is the low offer and the growth demand. At the same time if new dwellings won’t be build and sell with reasonable prices, the prices will still grow. That is what exactly happened in 2007 when the prices grew up with 20%, 30% on the dwellings market. Also the renters (lodgers) are worried concerning this problem, because the rent demand is bigger as the offer, this difference making possible an increased rent price.

III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives

A. Developed / State policy: The National Agency for Dwellings (rom. “A.N.L.”) has a agreed program for building 1-, 2- (most) and 3-roomed dwellings with state- controlled low rents for young married couples under 35, who after a

period of time are entitled to buy them.

Local policy: program for providing young individuals and/or families with grounds of some 500 sq. m. each, at no cost, for self-funded housing construction; program for building social dwellings for rent; program for buying existing buildings at affordable prices and re-

functionalise them as dwelling houses for various social necessities. All programs are currently on course of implementation.

http://www.anl.ro/en/ B. In elaboration or planned

C. Discussed

III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Actually there are in construction 220 dwellings with social housing agreed destination with finance from state budget and also from local budget. Iasi city considers that it will contribute within the project through ex- posing the best practices in the following fields:

-land policy/regulation tools

- identification of specific needs (age, ethnic minorities, disability,…) 6

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Legal tools:

Local and / or national objectives to be achieved No. 114/1996 law No. 152/1998 law providences regarding the setting up of National Agency for Housing with the ulterior changes and variations No. 962/2001 Government Decision regarding the approval of meth- odological norms for putting in practice the no. 152/ 1998 Law, with the ulterior changes and variations. Art. 36 and art. 115 alin. 1, lit. b no. 215/2001 Law regarding the local public administration, republished. http://www.mdlpl.ro/index.php?p=1030&lang=en

B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / In the development social-economic process of localities it is obligatory the principles observance and also the observance of safety environ- agreed ment law stipulations. The standards are established by this law. Obligations of National Authorities of Housing are: - to adopt the adequate architectural elements, to optimise the denseness of population simultaneously with the development and maintenance of green areas, parks, trees, landscape forest planning. - to adopt measures for all the juridical and physical persons re- garding the building maintenance and beauty, of courtyards and their surroundings, of green spaces from the courtyards and those which are between the buildings and also the trees main- tenance. In Romania the quality standards are established at national level. Ac- tually in Iasi there is no pilot project which applies high quality stan- dards.

B. In elaboration None or planned

C. Discussed

III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Local Council Decision Iaşi no. 150/25.04.2007, regarding the priority agreed: list approval which establish the order in solving the housing demands, (destinate tinerilor spre închiriere),

No. 100026/14 April 2008 minute, ended in the meeting of Social Commission, which was constituted in accordance with în no. 152/1998 7

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law, Noticed report elaborated by the Juridical and Discipline Commission of Local Council

B. In elaboration None or planned:

C. Discussed: None

IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Iasi considers that it will have a contribution in land pol- icy/regulation tools area plan, in public support for the social -social housing sector (for individuals/construction) area and in identifi- - environmental cation of specific needs (ethnic minorities). - land (see also the Matrix ‘Con- tributions and expecta- tions’ in part 2 of the Base- line study) IV.2. Main expectation issue: We want to receive support in : -social -partnership with financial partners - environmental -public support for the social housing sector (for individu- als/construction) - land -consultation and approval with residents, with real estate de- (see also the Matrix ‘Con- velopers tributions and expecta- -adjusting production to specific needs tions’ in part 2 of the Base- -priority target groups in allocation policy line study) -accompaniment-supporting measures for re-housed population

IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: ROP, through first axe foresees that Iasi City , as Development Growth Pole has to elaborate The integrated plan of Urban De- - social velopment. In this project there is the possibility, as eligible - environmental activities, the rehabilitation and modernization of multifamily refers to: social housing. whole area 8

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part district quarter, neighbourhood one site, estate

V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group URBACT I, “Support for cities”, in 2007

V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group phase 1 No participation in other network phase 2 V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) name FP7 – CIVITAS PLUS – ARCHIMEDES (Achieving Real Change with Innovative transport MEasures Demonstrating Energy Savings) – in implementation, where Iasi is leading city.

V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 12 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - Norway, Switzerland - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) -Transnational cooperation areas - other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Pro- gramme ..)

VI. COMMENTS

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VII. CONTACT Contact person: Contact person: Beatrice Fotache Phone / fax: Phone / fax: +40 720037566 / +40232267618 Mail contact: Mail contact:[email protected] Spoken Language(s): Spoken Language(s):Romanian, English

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: Krakow

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: Krakow, Municipality of Krakow Type of organisation: City Council, Mayor of the City of Krakow -Local authority District’s Council - other Member State (OMS/NMS) Poland Region Malopolska Region Province / federal province / land Krakow City Convergence/Competitiveness Convergence Region Official partner in the network From phase 2 - From phase 1 - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project Details department of Housing Housing Department Municipality of Krakow; Wydział Mieszkalnictwa Urzędu Miasta Krakowa department for urbanism / Urban Planning Department urban planning … Department for EU Affairs department housing/urbanism The Social Department department for EU Affairs Jagiellonian University other department(s) other institution(s) Responsible councillor The Chairman of the City Council I.2. Competences regarding housing

Scope of activities, Managing the municipality housing stock except from the sale of fields of intervention dwellings, specifically including the following: in housing matters Develop housing policy of the Municipality; provide housing assistance; represent the Municipality and the State Treasury interest with respect 1 to real estate, in which they have their share and supervise over the

Municipality of KRAKOW

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Municipality’s housing investments and renovation of the Municipality’s housing stock.

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Krakow Metropolitan area Area: 327 km2, Population: 756 583 inhabitants (31.12.2007), 8% or similar of total Metropolitan Area, 54% of total inhabitants in Metropolitan Area other, i.e. Krakow Metropolitan Area

Area: 4002,59 km2 , Population about 1400 000 inhabitants, 51 communities In Poland there is no state legislates concerning Krakow Metropoli- tan Area. Municipalities (communities) are interested in cooperate with others based on agreement between them. II.2. Urban context

A. Local data demographics

population, households

Population (2008) total 756.583 female percentage 402. 661 / 53,22% Pre-working (2008) percentages 118.505 / 15,66% Working 501.634/ 66,30% Post-working 136.444 / 18,03% ethnicity percentages - Individuals receiving social benefits (2007): percentage 32 917 / 4,35% Unemployment rate (year): percentage 14 407 population growth (from (2005) to (2007)) percentage constant (from (2008) to (2012)) percentage Regress 0,5%

Households (2003) 306 874 single households percentage 183 969/ 59,95% couples percentages 76 475/ 24,93% families percentages 115 639 / 37,68% (among them big families) percentages - Households receiving social benefits (2007): percentage 23 199 / 7,56% Households receiving housing benefits (allowances) (2007): Percentage 119 633 / 38,98%

National minorities account for a small percentage, Krakow does B. General situation not keep separate statistics for immigrants and ethnic minori- ties. Returned expatriates from the former USSR countries are a 2 specific group of immigrants to Krakow.

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Demographic tendencies: For approximately 10 years the number of population in Krakow has been stable. According to the records, Krakow society is gradually aging (in the population structure the share of popula- tion at the economically pre-productive age is decreasing and in post-productive – growing up).The birth rate is growing and the death rate declining, however the birth rate has reached a negative value. Positive permanent migration balance shows declining tendency. The number of marriage licenses keeps growing. The growing divorce number has been recorded. Per- manent population increase rate in Krakow neighbouring com- munes has been recorded (phenomenon of suburbanisation) II.3. Housing context A. Local housing data Total housing stock in Krakow – 304 500 dwellings. Municipality housing stock in tot al: 22 574 council flats, within this stock are 578 social council flats. Municipality housing stock

establish 7, 4 % of total housing stock and social council flats it is only 2,6 % of municipality housing stock. Private housing stock - 140 300 dwellings. It is 46% of total housing stock. Dwellings ownership structure in Krakow

Number of flats (in thousands) Ownership Title 2005 2006 2007

Total 293.3 299.8 304.5

Cooperative (rental, condo- 119.2 120.4 120.4 miniums)

Council flats (Mu- 23.7 23.7 22.6 nicipality)

State Treasury (including com- 3.8 3.8 3.8 pany flats)

Private (natural 134.8 135.5 140.3 persons)

Other 11.8 16.4 17.4

Built structure: Housing area: 48,1 km2 it is 14,71 % of hole surface In within this: - congested housing – 2,4 km2 it is 0,73% of whole area, - ribbon development – 14,9 km2 it is 4,56% of whole 3

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area, - detached buildings – 13,1 km2 it is 4,01% of whole area, - rural housing – 17,7 km2 it is 5,41% of whole area Costs and prices: - average rental per 1 m2 of the municipal dwelling - PLN 3.92 (1,19 EUR) (currently, ranging from PLN 3.08/ EUR 0,93 to PLN 7. 87/ EUR 2,38) and social council flat PLN 1.54 (EUR 0,47) - average rent price per 1 m2 in private apartments – PLN 28 / EUR 8,48 Average cost of construction of 1 m² of a new municipal dwell- ing: - PLN 2080 / EUR 630,30 (delivery 1999/2000) - PLN 2060 / EUR 624,24 (delivery 2007/2008) - average market price of 1 m² of a new dwelling: ranging from PLN 6 310 / EUR 1 912 (District XV Mistrzejowice) to PLN 18 500 / EUR 5 606 (District I - Stare Miasto [Old Town]) B. Main issues, - A considerable number of eviction orders that results in a duty challenges imposed on the Municipality to provide social council flats or an (with a focus on the alternative dwellings and compensation to be paid to the judgement creditors that have not been executed by providing role of ‘publicly funded an appropriate social council flats to the entitled persons. housing’) - In order to comply with statutory obligations, as of December

31, 2007, the Municipality should provide 1 852 social council flats, 305 alternative dwellings and 14 replacement dwellings. - In 2007, app. 288 applications were lodged for the payment of compensation for failing to provide social council flats to the persons entitled to such premise under the court verdict - at the Housing Department were entered into and 42 claims for a total amount of PLN 2 485 822.91 submitted by owners were recog- nised. - A considerable number of individuals threatened with eviction that lost their right to a dwelling unit under a three-year notice period - As at December 31, 2007 were registered 495 applica- tions for housing assistance complying with the related criteria due to a 3-year notice. - Protests were expressed due to the Municipality’s investment plans that obstructed or prevented the fulfilment of the Munici- pality’s duties relating to the provisions of dwellings. - Waiting for specific assistance of the Municipality by persons directed to private tenements (including those with tenancy contracts under three-year notice) and exposure to social pro- tests connected with such fact. - The Municipality has to provide social council flats for different risk groups who need support. - Identification of specific needs (age, ethnic minorities, disabil- ity, etc.). - Specific social housing services for specific groups. - Adjusting production to specific needs. 4 - Priority target groups in allocation policy.

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- Accompaniment - supporting measures for rehoused popula- tion – Housing Department Municipality of Krakow lead the ex- change program. - Tools that enable people to change in type of housing (from renting to ownership) C. Definitions used in Social housing (social council flats)– type of housing construc- the ‘social housing tion that complies with the requirements for social units under context’ the Act of June 21, 2001 on the protection of tenants’ rights and municipal housing management and amendments to the Civil

Code, Journal of Laws of 2000 No. 71, item 733 as amended). A social council flat means a dwelling that is fit for living consid- ering its equipment and technical condition with the area of rooms per capita within the tenant’s household of at least 5m2 and in case of a single-person household 10 m2, provided that such dwelling may be of a lower standard. Affordable housing – the type of housing with full-standard dwellings that are allocated by the Municipalities for open-end lease (council flats, alternative flats) or such flats are leased by Social Housing Association flats. D. Main target popula- Target groups qualified for housing assistance ; as of 31 De- tion cember 2007 applications for housing help were submitted by: - 22 families living in non-residential conditions, - 67 families living in over-populated apartments, - 55 households for reasons of social nature (homeless, very low income), -23 persons from Orphanages, - 69 families who lost their legal title to a flat due to 3- years tenancy contract - As at December 31, 2007 were registered 495 applications for housing assistance complying with the re- lated criteria due to a 3-year notice, - 17 exchange - 388 families due to eviction verdicts ruling that they are enti- tled to social council flats. - Wide scope of thermal upgrading (including housing coopera- E. Environmental stan- tive stock). dards in housing – - Energy-efficient stock of Social Housing Associations and ex- Main issues, amples of new municipal building. challenges - Partnerships of actors in building sector. As of January 1, 2009, the regulations regarding the require- ment to obtain energy performance certificates for a building or

residential premise will come into force in Poland.

Municipal Water Supply and Sewage System Enterprise is carry- ing out a Water Supply and Sewage Management in Krakow investment as part of the following task:

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refurbishment of the Dłubnia Water Treatment Enterprise, con-

struction of water mains and pressure-equalising tanks, refur- bishment and modernisation of water supply and distribution network, replacement of decapitalized closed water conduits, alteration of the Krakow sewage system, building of a sanitary drainage system in the eastern parts of the city As part of the liquidation of the so-called “low emission” over the last years Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Energetyki Cieplnej S.A. [Thermal Energy Municipal Enterprise S.A.] jointly with the USA Department of Energy and World Bank and with the enterprise own resources liquidated approximately 400 heating plants for solid fuel by connecting them to heat distribution network or converting coal-fired boilers to gas boilers. If all low-emission sources in Krakow are connected to heat distribution network it would reduce the emission of hazardous substances by 50-90 percent in specific ingredients.

II.4. Land tenure context A. Local data The average price per 1m2 of land in the years 2004-2007:

2004 – PLN 194 (EUR 58,79), 2005 – PLN 231 (EUR 70), 2006 – PLN 301 (EUR 91,21), 2007 – PLN 398 (EUR 120,61). - The average price per 1m² for housing construction: multifamily – PLN 480 - 2960 (EUR 145,45 – EUR 896,97), single-family – PLN 90 to 440 (EUR 27,27 to EUR 133,33). - Maximum price per 1 m² of land for housing construc- tion with municipal dwellings – PLN 195 / EUR 59,09 (price per land was quoted based on the lease contract concluded with an entity, from which the Municipality purchases the buildings with dwellings, since the Munici- pality delivers municipal housing projects on lands be- ings its property). - B. Main issues, chal- 1. Small area of the Municipality’s lands allocated for housing. lenges 2. Restriction consisting in the possibility to develop only a sin- gle building on one plot. 3. Low share of the Municipality’s lands fit for investment with- out additional expenditures (lack of underground facilities and access roads, restrictions due to the highway protective zone preventing housing investments within such zone boundaries). 4. Inadequate number of land development plans, which in- duces the need to obtain a decision on land development condi- tions under time-consuming administrative procedures and is connected with the risk of obstructing of the investment plans by their opponents. 6

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III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives A. Developed / National Development Plan 2007 - 2013 – a document defining goals of agreed the country’s social and economic development and the methods of achieving it

The Act of June 21, 2001 on the protection of tenants’ rights and mu- nicipal housing management and amendments to the Civil Code, Jour- nal of Laws of 2000 No. 71, item 733 as amended

B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives 1. Krakow Development Strategy (Resolution of the Krakow City Coun- A. Developed / cil no. XXV/742/05) agreed 2. Housing policy of the Municipality of Krakow(Resolution of the Kra-

kow City Council no. XXXIV/295/03) 3. Long-term programme of the Krakow municipal housing manage- ment for the years 2007 – 2012 (Resolution of the Krakow City Council no. XXIV/289/07) B. In elaboration We are planning changing the Housing Policy of Municipality of Krakow or planned Draft of Local Revitalization Programme. C. Discussed III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Resolution of the Krakow City Council No. XXIV/288/07 of October agreed 24, 2007 on the principles of the lease of dwellings that are part of the Krakow Municipality housing stock, as amended, regulates the area of granting of the housing assistance by the City of Kra- kow, including, among others, the following: - granting of housing assistance to expatriates returned from the for- mer USSR countries - performing of voluntary change of dwellings - granting of alternative units - granting of social dwellings Resolution of the Krakow City Council No. XXIV/289/07 on the adoption of a long-term municipal housing management for the years 2007 – 2012 as amended: - rules of granting the discount on rentals for the tenants of mu- nicipal dwellings. 7

Municipality of KRAKOW

SUITE TN Baseline Study 2008 planned C. Discussed III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / 1. Increase of local land development plans (increase from 2.4 percent agreed: of the city area covered by the plans in 2003 to 13.9 percent in 2006).

2. Prepare new land development study (Resolution of the Krakow City Council No. XVIII/229/07 of July 4, 2007 on introduction of changes to the Study of land development conditions and directions of the City of Krakow) The principle consisting in the use of the Municipality’s lands by selling it through an open tender procedure. B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed

IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Share experience in converting the buildings that have other functions into dwellings. -social Execute programmes of voluntary replacement of dwellings for the Municipality’s tenants. - environmental - land Introduce the rent discount system for the Municipality’s ten- ants. (see also the Matrix ‘Contribu- tions and expectations’ in part 2 - public support for the social housing sector (for individu- of the Baseline study) als/construction) IV.2. Main expectation issue: 1. Acquire knowledge how to solve major housing problems of the city. -social 2. Acquire experience in running social campaigns. - environmental 3. Acquire experience in soliciting for outside support (also - land with respect to financial resource) for housing investments.

(see also the Matrix ‘Contribu- 4. Acquire support for solving a dilemma whichever is more tions and expectations’ in part 2 profitable: concentration or sprawling of social housing con- of the Baseline study) struction.

- public support for the social housing sector (for individu- als/construction) - partnerships of actors in building sector - identification of specific needs (age, ethnic minorities, disability), 8

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- specific social housing services for specific groups (associa- tions, specific agency), - priority target groups in allocation policy, - accompaniment-supporting measures for rehoused population, - tools that enable people to change in type of housing (from renting to ownership) IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: Prepare social campaigns aimed at promoting housing invest- ments of the Municipality based on feasibility study and promo- - social tion of activities such as, for instance: building of municipal - environmental dwellings, use by administrators financial support for repairs refers to: and upkeep of tenement façades or thermal upgrade, use of available support forms by tenants, participate in voluntary ex- whole area change programme. part

district quarter, neighbourhood one site, estate

V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group URBACT I – URBANITAS / Physical regeneration of urban Natalia Biernat, sites, or the spirit of the wider urban environment. Strategy and Develop- ment Department Mu- Date: 2005 – 2007. nicipality of Krakow Topic: The aim of this project was to create a permanent net- work of towns that would share and exchange the benefit of their experiences to fight urban dislocation and its physical, economic and social consequences. The project analyzed and defined the problems which stem from it, and study and imple- ment common strategies in the fight against urban dislocation and thus institute policies which aim to improve the conditions and quality of life in our towns. In dealing with urban disloca- tions, it was necessary to tackle urban problems upstream in order to create an optimal environment for policies implemented downstream at local level.

Project Leader: Municipality of Anderlecht, Brussels. V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group phase 1 no 9 phase 2

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V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) INTERREG IIIC CASE – Cities against social exclusions.

V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - Norway, Switzerland - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) -Transnational cooperation areas - other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Pro- gramme ..)

VI. COMMENTS

VII. CONTACT Contact person: Contact person: Ewa Siekierzyńska Phone / fax: Phone / fax: 0048 12 616 1977 Mail contact: Mail contact: [email protected] Spoken Language(s): Spoken Language(s): English

Contact person: Contact person: Bogusława Lach Phone / fax: Phone / fax: 0048 12 616 8238 Mail contact: Mail contact: Bogusł[email protected] Spoken Language(s): Spoken Language(s): English

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: Medway Council

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: Medway Council Type of organisation: Unitary Authority -Local authority A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government func- - other tions within its area or performs additional functions which

elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national gov- ernment. Typically unitary authorities cover towns or cities large enough to function independently of county or other re- gional administration. Sometimes they consist of national sub-divisions which are distinguished from others in the same country by having no lower level of administration. Member State (OMS/NMS) OMS – United Kingdom Region South East England, UK Province / federal province / land Local Authority City Medway Convergence/Competitiveness Competitiveness Region Official partner in the network From phase 1 and phase 2 - From phase 1 - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project Details Department of Housing Medway Council, Regeneration and develop- ment/development and transport/housing strategy and Department for urbanism / development; Housing and Corporate Services Directorate urban planning … Medway Renaissance, Regeneration and develop- Department housing/urbanism ment/medway renaissance/renaissance strategy and deliv- Department for EU Affairs ery Other department(s) Medway Council, Social Regeneration and Europe Team, Other institution(s) Regeneration, Community and Culture Directorate Management Structure 1

Medway

SUITE TN Baseline Study 2008

Portfolio Holder for Strategic Development and Economic Responsible councillor Growth. Chair of International Relations Committee. I.2. Competences regarding housing Scope of activities, Medway Council Housing and Corporate Services Directorate has re- fields of intervention sponsibility for interpreting National Government Policy concerning in housing matters housing matters and placing them into Local context. Medway sets the rules within the Medway Unitary Authority boundary in respect of land

policy, definition of quantified objectives, allocation of housing accord- ing to need, definition of quantified objectives and localisation for so- cial mix.

Medway Council Housing and Corporate Services Directorate define the rules and bring financial support for construction and financial aid for individuals.

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Medway, the name given to a conurbation - a unitary authority located in North Kent covering an area of 192.03 km2 with a population of Metropolitan area approximately 253,800. or similar Medway comprises the five main towns of Chatham, Gillinghan, Rain- other, i.e. ham, Rochester and Strood and also includes a number of smaller …………………… ………. towns and villages such as Frindsbury, Brompton, Walderslade, Luton and Wigmore lying within the conurbation – previously known as "The

Medway Towns". Medway also includes a few villages outside the main urban area, such as Hoo St Werburgh, Cliffe and Grain on the Hoo Peninsula to the north of the main towns, and villages such as Cuxton, Halling and

Wouldham in the Medway Gap region to the south of Rochester and Strood. As mentioned above, Medway is a unitary authority a type of local authority having a single tier and responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which else- where in the relevant country are usually performed by national gov- ernment or a higher level of sub-national government. Typically, a unitary authority covers towns or cities large enough to function independently of county or other regional administration. The management structure has recently been reviewed and a Management Structure diagram is available at the hyperlink. Medway Council's constitution sets out how the council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. Some of these processes are required by law, while others are a mat- ter for the council to choose. A summary and explanation of the con- 2 stitution is available to view. Medway

SUITE TN Baseline Study 2008

Medway has 181,000 voters. Every four years they can vote at local elections for councillors - the people who make decisions about how resources are spent in Medway and what services are provided. The council is made up of 55 councillors who represent 22 wards through- out Medway. The political composition is: Conservative 33, Labour 13, Liberal Democrat 8, Independent 1. Further details of these political groups, the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet are also available on the website. Medway is also democratically represented at Parliament in West- minster by three Members of Parliament and in the European Union by a Member of the European Parliament. There are also 11 Parish Councils responsible for local facilities in some parts of the area.

A. Local data Demographics

Population (Medway Housing Needs Survey – 2006) 253,800 Female (2001, Census) 51% Medway Age Structure (Housing Needs Survey 2006) 0 - 19 26.7% 20 - 29 13.1% 30 – 44 22.4% 45 – 64 24.6% 65 + 13.2%

2029 Population forecast (HNS 2006) 279,000

0 -19 23.8% 20 - 29 12.2% 30 – 44 20.2% 45 – 64 24.1% 65 + 19.7%

Ethnicity (2001, Census) White British 92.9% White Other 2,9% Mixed 1.6% Any other 3.6%

The resident population of Medway was 253,800 according to the Medway Housing Needs Survey undertaken in 2006 but there are fluc- tuations and according to NOMIS (official labour market statistics) the population in 2007 was 252,200. Once again, according to NOMIS, the Working Age Population of Medway in 2007 was 159,100 comprising 82,800 males and 76,300 females. The statistics continue to show 133,500 of these are Economically Active (employed); 71,700 male and 61,700 female but 28,000 are Economically Inactive (unemployed); This represents 17.8% of the total comprising 10,500 male and 17,400 female. The study goes on to show that only 6% of all Economically Inactive people want to find employment – 5.6% male and 6.4% female. There are two main problems in terms of employment opportunities in Medway. 3

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1. Qualifications are poor – only 20.7% hold a National Vocational Qualification, Level 4 or above. The National average is over 28%, whereas for the South East region it is over 30%. 2. Job Density in Medway is quite low. 108,000 jobs available compared to the workforce – 0.64%. This compares poorly against the national level of 0.84% and 0.88% for the South East. As a result, earning capacity is poor and the opportunity for individuals to provide adequate housing for their family is low, which leads to dependency on Social housing or Private rented. The Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) is payable to people under pension- able age who are available for, and actively seeking, work of at least 40 hours a week. In 2008 in Medway 2.4% of those economically inactive are claiming this benefit. Working-age Client Group – key benefit claimants (Feb 2008) There are a number of different benefits to be claimed including, Job Seekers Allowance, Lone Parents, Incapacity Benefits, Carers and other income related benefits. The total claimants in Medway amounted to 20,060, February 2008, representing 13.2% compared to 14.1% for Great Britain and 9.7% in the South East. Therefore Medway can be seen as perform- ing very poorly in this area compared with the rest of our region.

B. General situation The Medway area has a long and varied history dominated originally by the city of Rochester and later by the naval and military establish-

ments principally in Chatham and Gillingham. Located on the River Medway, from which it takes it name, the city lies in the county of Kent approximately 50 km South East of London and 75 km from the Port of Dover.

The conurbation of Medway was established in 1998 when the five Medway towns of Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Rain- ham were incorporated together with several smaller villages under one Unitary Authority – Medway Council.

Medway’s location within the Thames Gateway, a designated growth area and one of the largest development programmes in Europe, has led to significant levels of regeneration investment from national gov- ernment, with designated regeneration zones at the heart of Chatham

and along the waterfront, reflecting its potential for development and it is growing both physically and economically. Development in the Medway area was dependant on investment in flood defence and land remediation works and this has now been

achieved, smoothing the way to enable private sector investment in business, leisure, residential, cultural and retail provision. This was also an opportunity to concentrate new development in existing urban

areas, and thereby resist greenfield development.

Medway has high unemployment levels and many are long term un- 4 employed. Investment in generating jobs is a priority. Medway

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The Medway economy is now made up of financial and business

services; hi-tech manufacturing; health; retail; education; construc- tion; the creative industries and tourism.

II.3. Housing context A. Local housing Medway Total Housing Stock = 107,588 (1st April 2008); Private Sector data = 92,141 (85.6%); Registered Social Landlord = 11,828 (11%); Council Rented = 3,059 (2.9%); Other Public Sector = 536 (0.5%);

Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix 2008;

Total ‘Social housing Stock’ was 15,423 or 14.3% Built Structure Detached houses = 15%; Semi-detached houses = 29%; Terraced Houses = 54%; Flats / Apartments = 10% Figures taken from the Housing Stock Condition Survey Feb 2007.

http://www.medway.gov.uk/stock_condition_survey_10-2.pdf

New Social Housing completions

2001/2 – 38; 2002/3 – 56; 2003/4 – 156; 2004/5 – 54; 2005/6 – 269; 2006/7 – 190; 2007/8 – 259 Right-to-Buy Sales 2001/2 – 51; 2002/3 – 53; 2003/4 – 49; 2004/5 – 20; 2005/6 – 19; 2006/7 – 13; 2007/8 – 11

The downward trend seen above of residents exercises their ‘Right to Buy’

rented social housing reflects two causes: 1. The housing stock available is the poorest quality – the best has already been sold off;

2. The market price for this stock is simply not affordable or attrac- tive to the residents of Medway at present. Cost of Social Housing The rent levels charged by Housing Associations and the Local Au- thority is regulated at the National Level.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/139190.pdf

The table below show rent levels for Medway Council properties 2004 – present in £’s

2004/20 2005/20 2006/20 2007/2008 2008/2009 05 06 07 Bedsit Flat 36.86 36.86 41.35 44.46 47.7

1 Bedroom Flat 43.7 46.2 46.2 51.91 55.27

2 Bedroom Flat 48.49 51.3 53.97 57.65 61.3

3 Bedroom Flat 50.97 54.28 57.7 62.57 66.87

2 Bedroom 61.4 63.6 65.41 67.88 70.87 House 3 Bedroom 66.97 69.3 71.61 74.68 77.9 House 4 Bedroom 74.7 76.61 78.86 81.89 85.05 5 House Medway

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Housing Association Rents 2006 –08 Average Rent Charged

2006/7 2007/8

1 Bed Flat £60.43 £70

2 Bed Flat £69.64 £77

3 Bed Flat £73.19 £75

1 Bed House £63.13 £67

2 Bed House £77.64 £79

3 Bed House £85.19 £89

4+ Bed House £91.55 £96

Cost of producing social housing? Medway Council no longer builds social housing. If this question is referring to the cost of the build then this should be the same as for private units. The affordable units delivered via the planning system are built on the same site as private houses by the same private developer. The cost to the public is in theory zero. The developer is required to provide these units as part of the wider development. The requirement for affordable housing on new developments is set

out in the Council’s Developer Contribution Guide. In Medway and some other Local Authorities funding towards the af- fordable housing is available from the Housing Corporation. The amount of funding from this source is dependent on the tenure of unit

and is judged on a value for money basis by the Corporation. The Housing Corporation if funded by central government. Typical per unit funding in Medway has been >£50,000 per Rented unit, £15,000 per Shared Ownership units and £20-30,000 per Inter- mediate Rented unit from the Housing Corporation. The Housing As- sociation / Developer is required to find any other funding required. B. Main issues, chal- In order to understand imbalances in the Housing Market, Medway lenges Council undertakes Housing Needs Surveys and Strategic Housing (with a focus on the Market Assessments. These highlight where shortages of housing role of ‘publicly stock exist. funded housing’) The standard of existing housing stock across all tenures is examined in Medway’s Stock Condition Survey ; this is used to understand the

work required to bring houses up to a decent standard and for identi- fying locations in need of neighbourhood renewal. The main national issue currently facing the delivery of social housing is the cost of borrowing and its impact on the mortgage market. The slow down in the building industry has resulted in fewer houses being built resulting in fewer social units being delivered. Private developers deliver many social units as a percentage of total units delivered on any given site. 6

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The mechanism that enables these social units to be delivered via the planning process is detailed under section 106 of the Town and Coun- try Planning Act 1990 and these requirements are commonly known as planning obligations

C. Definitions used The UK Government has defined affordable housing within Planning in the ‘social Policy Statement 3: Housing (November 2006) as: housing context’ "Affordable housing includes social rented and intermediate housing,

provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. Affordable housing should: • Meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to

local incomes and local house prices. • Include provision for the home to remain at an affordable price

for future eligible households or, if these restrictions are lifted, for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable hous-

ing provision'. Social rented housing is: 'Rented housing owned and managed by local authorities and regis- tered social landlords, for which guideline target rents are determined through the national rent regime. The proposals set out in the Three Year Review of Rent Restructuring (July 2004) were implemented as policy in April 2006. It may also include rented housing owned or managed by other persons and provided under equivalent rental ar- rangements to the above, as agreed with the local authority or with the Housing Corporation as a condition of grant.' Intermediate affordable housing is: 'Housing at prices and rents above those of social rent, but below market price or rents, and which meet the criteria set out above. These can include shared equity products (e.g. HomeBuy), other low cost homes for sale and intermediate rent." The definition does not exclude homes provided by private sector bod- ies or provided without grant funding. Where such homes meet the definition above, they may be considered, for planning purposes, as affordable housing. Whereas, those homes that do not meet the defi- nition, for example, 'low cost market' housing, may not be considered, for planning purposes, as affordable housing. D. Main target popu- The target population for ‘social housing’ in Medway is all those that lation cannot adequately house themselves. The majority of these house- holds are unable to house themselves in the private sector due to low

or no incomes. 38% of households have incomes below £15,000 and 65% of households have less than £5,000 of savings. There are currently about 8,000 households registered with the local authority as having a housing need.

It has however been recognised that some groups within Medway require additional focus in terms of their housing needs. This has re- 7

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sulted in the development of a number of housing sub-strategies in- cluding, young people, older people, people with disabilities and Black & Minority Ethnic communities.

E. Environmental All new affordable housing developed in Medway is currently re- standards in quired to meet Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The housing – Code measures the sustainability of a home against nine design Main issues, categories, rating the ‘whole home’ as a complete package. The challenges design categories are: Energy & CO2 Emissions, Water, Materi- als, Surface Water Run-off, Waste, Pollution, Health & Wellbeing,

Management and Ecology. These standards are higher than those required for private dwell- ings, i.e. building regulations. II.4. Land tenure context A. Local data Medway’s Local Plan 2003 and the Developer Contribution Guide set out not only threshold of units required on a site to trigger

the need for affordable housing but also the size, type and ten- ure requirement of those households. For site of 25 or more units (15 in rural area) 25% of the new residential units are required to be affordable. Of these afford- able units there is a desired tenure split of 60% social rented and 40% Intermediate housing. Based on the finding of the Housing Needs Surveys the following desired size split for affordable units is specified. 40% x 1 bed, 30% x 2 bed, 20% x 3 bed and 10% x 4 bed +. The mechanism that enables these social units to be delivered via the planning process is detailed under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and these requirements are commonly known as planning obligations. B. Main issues, - challenges III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives A. Developed / Medway Council has recently published its Housing Strategy 2008 - 11 agreed this sets out the overall vision and more specific aims for the next 3 years. This Strategy and a suite of 8 sub-strategies were adopted by

the council’s cabinet on 5th August 2008. The aims and objectives of these strategies have been developed within the context of existing strategies and plans for Medway, includ- ing the Community Plan, Medway Renaissance’s Regeneration Frame- work, Corporate aims and all relevant council strategies Medway Housing Strategy 2008 - 11 Section E4 South East Regional Plan Thames Gateway Kent Partnership 8

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B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives Medway’s Local Plan 2003 and the Developer Contribution Guide set out A. Developed / not only threshold of units required on a site to trigger the need for af- agreed fordable housing but also the size, type and tenure requirement of those households. For site of 25 or more units (15 in rural area) 25% of the new residential units are required to be affordable. Of these affordable units there is a desired tenure split of 60% social rented and 40% Intermediate

housing. Based on the finding of the Housing Needs Survey the following desired size split for affordable units is specified. 40% 1 bed, 30% 2 bed, 20% 3 bed and 10% 4 bed +. A percentage (50%) of all social units are required to be built to Lifetime Homes standard and 2% designed to be Wheelchair compliant. All of these policies are aimed at creating mixed tenure, sustainable com- munities. B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Medway Council is part of the North and West Kent Private Sector Re- agreed newal Partnership. This Partnership has achieved funding from the South East Regional Housing Board towards meeting Decent Homes and other Energy Efficiency initiatives including combating fuel poverty and reducing carbon emissions. The Green Charter has been published to ensure that Rochester Riverside exceeds the latest government regulations on sustainability and sets out the standards for the new development. Developers will have to meet minimum requirements covering: water usage; carbon emissions; sustain- able building materials; timber sources; recycling; waste management.

B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Medway Renaissance was the team within Medway Council responsible agreed for the land assembly of two difficult brownfield sites, Rochester and Strood Riverside. Both sites suffered from contamination and flooding and through Government funding have purchased the land through Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and carried out master planning. Rochester Riverside also was in receipt of funding for remediation works and land raising to prevent flooding. Strood will receive funding for partial flood defences. Medway Renaissance is also delivering on 9 the regeneration of Chatham, which has undergone intensive master Medway

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planning. Chatham Design Summit 1. Chatham Design Summit 2. The Council is permitted to use CPO powers if required to assist with the redevelopment of the 'City Centre' and funding sought from private sector investment. B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Medway can contribute to the Project in several areas in particular from the environmental aspect in the definition of -social energy efficiency criteria and objectives, where Medway defines - environmental the rules and brings financial support. - land IV.2. Main expectation Issue: Medway has identified the following 5 main priorities to be consid- ered throughout this project. - social 1. Identifying and making use of good practice methods from - environmental other EU partners as regards to the management and delivery of - land housing stock renovation programme. 2. Linking the EU URBACT project funding and focus into com- (see also the Matrix ‘Contribu- munity consultation and liaison re: the Private Sector Renewal tions and expectations’ in part 2 Programme to benefit those most in need. of the Baseline study) 3. Looking at good practice achieved in other EU city areas re: achieving an effective "social mix" of affordable housing and other forms of housing (from new regeneration zones). 4. Exchanging good practice and agreeing common approaches to alleviating fuel poverty amongst housing stock in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. 5. Benchmarking our housing strategy, policy and management against other cities in the partnership. Although we feel there is a great deal to be learned from other partners we believe that we can contribute mush, especially in our experience of Social Regeneration project, working with Local Support Groups and Development of the Private Sector Renewal Programme. IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan

Issue: Medway intends to develop a Local Action Plan focussed on both social and environmental issue but these will of course have eco- - social nomic implications. - environmental The main Priorities are set out above in section IV.2 but the LAP will aim to develop 2 key actions: 10

Medway

SUITE TN Baseline Study 2008 refers to: 1. Using the mechanism available under Medway’s Private Sector Housing Renewal Programme identify those households that are whole area most in need and would benefit from cash loans available to un- part dertake improvements to insulation, heating and ventilation and other basic improvements to bring their housing up to acceptable district standards. quarter, neighbourhood 2. Working with both Medway Housing Strategic Team and Med- one site, estate way Renaissance, the development organisation, investigate how best we can achieve a desirable and realistic Social Mix and bring

together existing communities with new communities in harmony. We will be working with the Managing Authority SEEDA and hope to identify funds that may be used to supplement those available to enable a Pilot Project to be established. V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group

None None V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group

Project Repair Phase I of the Repair project. Medway Council is the Lead Part- ner in this project working on the Realisation of sustainable re- phase 1 use of former military heritage sites. phase 2 The project signed up has 9 partners with a wide range of sites, issues and expectations. V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF)

Medway has participated in many European funded project includ- ing Interreg IIIA and IIIC, Interreg IV, ERDF and ESF funds. Pro-

jects include Project ASCEND; Project GAGNER working with partners in Dunkirk, France developed a project to reduce the ‘Bar- riers To Employment’. The Global Grants programme supported

by the European Social Fund (ESF) has supported 69 local ini- tiatives with grants of up to £10,000. Project Champion is a cross-border partnership programme uniting the towns of Medway and Grande-Synthe in Dunkirk, Northern France. The two commu-

nities have similar circumstances, which adversely affect the well- being and quality of life of residents. RENDoc (Regeneration of Naval Dockyard Towns) is a partnership network of European

naval dockyard towns. Revit in most cities of northwest Europe there are brownfield sites - land that has previously been built upon) that need to be regenerated in order to improve the quality and sustainability of urban living.

The CONRAD Project, an Interreg IIIA cross-border European project, partly financed through the programme, which brought together citizen communities from disadvantage neighbourhoods

in Medway, North Kent and the Greater Dunkerque area of North- ern France. The CONRAD project explored three themes: Housing and social inclusion, Economic development, Citizenship and com- 11 munity involvement. Medway

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V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds

- EU 27 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions)

- EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.)

- EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States)

- Norway, Switzerland - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States)

- Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions)

- Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions)

- CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF)

-Transnational cooperation areas

- other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Programme .. VI. COMMENTS

Medway would like to develop at least one CASE up to applica- tion for funds stage. This could be achieved by various ideas provided by Project Partners being selected by the Steering Committee in a competition. These CASES might be called a Pilot Project and would have been the result of the work of the LAP with further development by the members of the ULSG. The PILOT PROJECT could be a realisation of the work under- taken and put forward for funding by joint activity of the project partners. VII. CONTACT

Contact person: Vincent Jasper – Project Officer - Social Regeneration and Europe Team Phone: 00 44 1634 338103 Fax: 00 44 1634 331184 Mobile: 00 44 7825 071422 Email contact: [email protected] Mail address: Medway Council , Headquarters Building Gun Wharf, Dock Road, CHATHAM ME4 4TR United Kingdom Spoken Language(s): English Hyperlink Medway Council

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: Nantes Métropole

I. PARTNER Details

Name of the partner organisation: Nantes Métropole

Type of organisation: A conurbation comprising 24 cities and local authorities, organized since January 2001 as a “Urban Community -Local authority Council” (“communauté urbaine” = cooperation between - other local councils).Website of Nantes Métropole: www.nantesmetropole.fr (in French)

Member State (OMS/NMS) OMS Region Région Pays de la Loire Province / federal province / land No City Nantes

Convergence/Competitiveness Region competitiveness

Official partner in the network - From phase 1 - From phase 2

I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project

department of Housing Elected member responsible for International planning and housing Department department for urbanism / urban planning …

department housing/urbanism Project management Urban Development Department department for EU Affairs (Direction du Développement Urbain)

other department(s)

local Partners other institution(s) Housing Department

Responsible councillor Elected member (vice president) responsible for urban planning and housing

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I.2. Competences regarding housing - Competence in the field of housing : Scope of activities, o Definition of the local housing policy (PLH): issues at stake, fields of intervention strategic directions, action plans and operational schemes in housing matters (including financial grant schemes) o Policy in favour of social housing (public and private stock of housing for rent) and affordable o Development plans in the urban conurbation (urban renewal, complex concerted development areas (ZAC = zone d’activité concertée) dedicated to housing and equipment)

- Competence in terms of hosting and accommodating of travellers (see also the Matrix o Construction and management of areas for travellers temporary ‘Competences’ in part 2 of the settlement Baseline study) o Policy to ease and manage summer large transits (evangelical missions) o Facilitation of long-term settling through urban and housing policies

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Area 523, 360 (km2) Population 579,802 inhab. (2008) Metropolitan area or The conurbation integrates 24 cities from 1,2OO inhabitants to 270,000 similar inhabitants. Nantes is the main city counting 50% of the conurbation population. The president of Nantes Métropole is the mayor of Nantes; other, i.e. The vice presidents of Nantes Métropole are elected members from the 24 cities.

II.2. Urban context

A. Local data Population (2008) 579,802 female 52%

25% under 20 21% more 60 age breakdown (2008) …………… 1.6% more 85 ethnicity: several nationalities 2.5% Individuals receiving social benefits (2006): - minimum income for inclusion (RMI) 4.7% of households - income for single-parent family 11.1% of households - Individual benefits for housing (based on social criteria for rental housing) 28.5% of households Unemployment rate (2006): 9.4% population growth (from 1999 to 2008) 0.6% recent

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Households (19991) 36.1 % (85 565 single households households) 29.3 % (69 468 couples households) 27.3% (64 599 families (3-4 people) households) 7.3% (17267 (among them big families +5 people) households) Households receiving social benefits (2006): See above Households receiving housing benefits (2006): individual loan (0% loan) to ease affordable accession 1% to property (2430 Households)

- A population growth estimated to 0.6%/year since 1999, i.e. an B. General situation increase of 3,617 inhabitants per year. - People aged over 60 years old represent 21% of the population (102,000 people) and people aged over 85 years, 1.6% (9000 people). - People aged below 20 years old represent 25% of the population. - 2.5% of people who do not have French nationality; an increasing part of the population with around 1000 migrants from outside the EU arriving in Nantes conurbation each year since 2002. - 14% of households are living under the poverty line (€633 per month per consumption unit in 2005). - In 2005, there were 201,281 employees in the private sector. The unemployment rate in the conurbation amounts to 9.4%, with 25,271 unemployed people beginning of 2006.

II.3. Housing context A. Local housing data Stocks and proportions : Households : o 53% of them own their home (135,335 housing units), o 27% of them are tenants in the private housing stock (68,945 housing units) o 18% of them are tenants of the social housing stock (45,963 housing units) o 2% of them are in another situation (have their home for free, have it in as part of their job…) The heterogeneity of the conurbation allows all kinds of building structure. Multi-storey buildings and blocks are mainly in Nantes and big cities of the conurbation.

1 The last census about households was done in 1999. 3

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years 1990 1999 2007 Growth rate (%)

Social 39557 44928 47667 1990- 1999- 1990-07 housing 99 07 number

and growth +20.5% +13.6 +6.1% %

Between 1990-1999, 537 social housings each year (year average) were built. Between 1999-2007, 304 social housings each year (year average) were built. Between 2001 and 2007, Nantes Métropole financed 4,521 social rental housing units. - Average squared meter rent price for social housing (Euro, year): 5.03 € - average actual construction cost / m² for social housing (in Euro,2007): 1813 €/m² (with land)

B. Main issues, challenges At National level: (with a focus on the role France has one of the largest stocks of housing in the EU when of ‘publicly funded measured on a number per thousand population basis (513 per 1000 inhabitants, see table), but this is partly due to a relatively large housing’) number of second homes. France is facing a housing crisis affecting particularly middle to low income households and which concerns many regions and most urban centres. This crisis is due to an insufficient construction level throughout the last decade. Home ownership has grown steadily since 1954. 56% of French households own their own home. Between 1989 and 1995 the increase in home ownership slowed down due to a decision by government to reduce subsidies. www.cecodhas.org At the local level, the following issues are especially important: - Relaunch the production of dwellings : objective of 3,900 new

housing units per year - Diversify the housing offer, to ensure the evolution of families’ situations in terms of housing (“parcours résidentiels”) in the conurbation - Meet the needs for specific dwellings (young people under professional integration, students, elderly people) - Ensure we host specific populations (disadvantaged/deprived population, travellers, etc.)

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In Nantes Métropole the term of “social housing” is used for rental C. Definitions used in the housing. ‘social housing context’ The term of “affordable housing” is used for accession housing (ownership).

- Rental social housing in France is divided into the following categories : - Highly social Rent € / m² Maximum net monthly income in € (for rental housing one household of 3 people)

Highly social € 4.46 € 1,418 housing

Social housing € 5.03 € 2,363

Middle housing € 7.54 € 3,072

Free housing € 10.3

- Affordable housing : Accession to Maximum admitted Maximum net monthly income property prices without in € (for one household of 3 personal people) contribution

Social accession < € 2,200/m² € 2,362 (ceiling for social (including sale of housing) social housing)

Affordable accession Between € 2,200 € 3,346€ (ceiling for 0% loan) to housing and € 2,400 m²

Middle accession to Between € 2,400 € 3,680 (=110% of ceiling for housing and € 2,700/m² 0% loan)

Free accession > 2700€/m²

D. Main target population Nantes Métropole aims to respond to the specific needs of elderly people, travellers in the process of settling.

Ethnic groups are not represented by one nationality. Ethnicity is not a criteria to define a target population.

E. Environmental In France, the current standard for all new constructions is the RT standards in housing – 2005 (Réglementation Thermique = Thermal regulation). A new Main issues, regulation will be implemented in 2010 (the RT 2010). In addition to this regulation, some labels exist to prove energy efficiency higher challenges than the RT 2005 but are not compulsory at national level.

- Label HPE = corresponds to an energy consumption 10% below the RT 2005

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- Label HPE EnR (=Energie renouvelable = renewable energy) = RT

2005 -10% + solar hot water for at least 40% of the needs

- Label THPE = RT 2005 –20%

- LabelTHPE ENR = RT2005 -30% +renewable energy for hot water and/or for heating.

-Label BBC = 50 kWh primary energy/m²/year for heating + hot water + refreshment + ventilation+ lighting

The label BBC is the objective defined by The Grenelle Environment for 2010 for all public buildings, 2012 for housing and tertiary. This objective is very ambitious comparing to the current RT 2005…

For the housing in rehabilitation, for the moment no compulsory measure exits. For housing on sale, only a energy performance diagnostic is compulsory.

2 main issues are especially important (scale, relevance) in Nantes Métropole : - Promote the production of a high quality and energy-efficient housing stock, both in terms of conception and in terms of use (eco-neighbourhood, eco-building) - Foster the rehabilitation of the former / existing housing stock to significantly reduce the level of rental costs or to reinforce the comfort of housing An overall sustainable policy at the level of the conurbation : defined in Nantes Métropole’s “Agenda 21”, which is divided into various actions : - A Plan for Climate” : aims at reducing by 2, the emission of gases responsible for the greenhouse effect, by 2025, i.e. a reduction of 1 million tons of CO2 equivalent - Implementation of a community fund for energy-performance in favour of social housing and encouraging very high energy efficiency in new and former housing stock. In 2007, 826 housing benefited from public grants. - Development of eco-neighbourhoods - Actions to be developed on former private housing stock, in favour of energy efficiency

II.4. Land tenure context Also some costs, if available, e.g.: A. Local data - Real estate cost that housing developers (“bailleurs”) can stand to develop social housing: €100/m², the difference is compensated by Nantes Métropole - Maximum authorized real estate cost for affordable housing: € 220-€ 240/m²

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- Average actual real estate cost in public development areas, for

free housing : € 300- €350/m² - Real estate free market cost: € 400-€ 500/m²

B. Main issues, challenges At national level, the land tenure context is characterised by a huge increasing of the land costs. The French legislation offer several tools to control the land. Land control is done upstream from urban project.

At local level: The main challenge is to control over real estate prices : Operational areas (financial balancing out of real estate costs) Area for future urban development (real estate prospecting)... Position of the municipality: Development of a scheme of real estate action in favour of housing: possibility to pre-empt land for social housing developments or to create land reserves, to be dedicated to housing in the middle or long terms.

III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives Housing policies of Nantes Métropole: A. Developed /

agreed - Competence in the field of housing : o Definition of the local housing policy (PLH): issues at stake, strategic directions, action plans and operational schemes (including financial grant schemes) o Policy in favour of social housing (public and private stock of housing for rent) and affordable o Development plans in the urban conurbation (urban renewal, complex concerted development areas (ZAC = zone d’activité concertée) dedicated to housing and equipment) Actions developed : - Construction of rental social housing in the 24 city areas : commitment for 20% of the yearly production developed in rental social housing, with an overall minimum objective of 900 housing - Urban planning: definition of objectives and obligations in terms of effective social and urban mix in urban planning tools (legal obligation for social mix, inclusion of social housing in private developments…)

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- 5 large urban renewal projects : 937 demolished housing units, 1,062

reconstructed housing units and over 4,000 rehabilitated housing units - Financial support to 17 housing development plans (through tripartite conventions Nantes Métropole – city – developer) for the production of 12,700 housing units. - A scheme to ease social accession and affordable accession to property : individual loan (0% loan), cut of land property costs in certain areas and limited prices

B. In elaboration Revision of the Local Housing Plan (PLH) in 2008. or planned

C. Discussed

III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives - Competence in terms of hosting and accommodating of travellers A. Developed / o Construction and management of areas for travellers temporary agreed settlement o Policy to ease and manage summer large transits (evangelical missions) o Facilitation of long-term settling through urban and housing policies

B. In elaboration or planned

C. Discussed III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / At national level the high environmental quality of housing is a concept born agreed in the 90’s. The high environmental quality (HQE) is not a label and not a regulation. It is a voluntary approach of environmental quality management for building projects and rehabilitation of buildings. At local level Nantes Métropole wishes to promote this approach. Several projects are in process or ongoing.

Ongoing experiments for eco-neighbourhoods : B. In elaboration o Ile de Nantes project (350ha, a potential for 7,000 housing units), or planned o Bottière-Chénaie (1,800 housing units, of which 600 social housing units and 700 affordable housing units.) o Pré Gauchet (164 ha, a potential of 1,000 housing units of which 300 social housing units, equipments and tertiary activities)

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C. Discussed

III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / To promote social housing production several tools are developed: agreed: - Local land Plan (Plan d’Action Foncière). Nantes Métropole can buy land for social housing in the 24 cities of the conurbation. - Social Mix Servitudes. Parcels of land devoted to social Housing by the Urban Plan (PLU). Nantes Métropole defines a rate of social housing and a minimum of built surface. - Urban pre-emption right. Nantes Métropole can buy land and/or building when it is on sale. In this case, Nantes Métropole gets priority.

B. In elaboration or planned: C. Discussed:

IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Nantes Métropole’s contributions are focused on social mix. The conurbation develops several regulation tools as the integration of -social social and urban mix areas in the Local Urbanism Plan (PLU). Moreover, in order to guarantee social mix, a partnership with social - environmental associations (that own and manage social housing) is promoted. - land Nantes Métropole had developed a rehousing policy for inhabitants from neighbourhoods concerned by urban regeneration. (Tested in

the Malakoff and Pré Gauchet neighbourhoods.)

IV.2. Main expectation issue: Nantes Métropole expects to learn a lot about this issue. We expect to exchange about the possibility to produce affordable housing with -social High quality of construction.

- environmental - land

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IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: The exchanges with the others partners will contribute to the revision of Local Housing Plan (PLH) which will probably be quite similar with - social the Local Action Plan.

- environmental The new Local Housing Plan will give priority to environmental issues refers to: in housing and respond to target population needs (elderly people, travellers, disadvantaged households…). whole area

part district quarter, neighbourhood one site, estate

V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group none V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group phase 1 none phase 2 V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) INTERREG IIIB North-West Europe REVIT This project lasted from 2004 to 2007. The leader was Stuttgart. REVIT strive to achieve a higher acceptance and better image for revitalised brownfield sites by testing their own models and tools on the local project areas of each partner and reporting best practice examples in this context to other cities and regions in Europe.

The partners were Stuttgart, Nantes, Medway, Torfaen, Hengelo, Tilburg. In Nantes Metropole, REVIT financed a few rehabilitations on Nantes’island.

www.iledenantes.fr

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V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - Norway, Switzerland - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) -Transnational cooperation areas (Atlantic coast) - other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Programme ..)

VI. COMMENTS none

VII. CONTACT Contact person : Adeline Guillet Contact person : Angèle Lafaye Phone / fax: 00 33 2 40 99 50 01 Phone / fax: 00 33 2 40 99 52 58 Mail contact: Mail contact: [email protected] [email protected] Spoken Language(s): French, English Spoken Language(s): French, English

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: Newcastle City Council

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: Newcastle City Council Type of organisation:

- Local authority www.newcastle.gov.uk - other Member State (OMS/NMS) United Kingdom (OMS) Region North East of England Province / federal province / land Tyne & Wear City Newcastle upon Tyne Convergence/Competitiveness Competitiveness Region Official partner in the network - From phase 1 - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project department of Housing Newcastle City Council – Strategic Housing Service department for urbanism / Newcastle City Council - Planning Policy Team urban planning … Newcastle City Council – Regional and European department housing/urbanism Programmes Team department for EU Affairs Your Homes Newcastle (arms length management organisation for the 33,000 council owned social homes) other department(s) Bridging Newcastle Gateshead (housing renewal other institution(s) pathfinder) Your Choice Homes (choice based lettings service for Newcastle)

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Housing Corporation(Government affordable housing organisation) Tyne & Wear Housing Partnership (sub-regional partnership for the development of housing policy and strategy in Tyne and Wear) Responsible councillor Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Housing

I.2. Competences regarding housing Scope of activities, he City Council has a statutory duty to research, fields of intervention understand and actively work towards meeting the in housing matters housing needs of our communities. This duty is managed in Newcastle by the Strategic Housing Service

who work with a broad range of partners to direct investment and interventions towards improving the

housing offer in the city, contributing towards sustainable communities, supporting those with

specialist housing needs or who are in crisis and delivering affordable homes. The key document that (see also the Matrix ‘Competences’ in part sets out our ambitions for housing in the city is the 2 of the Baseline study) Newcastle Housing Strategy this contains the following priorities:

1. Offering the homes that people want – buy building more homes, increasing the housing choices available to our residents and improving the environmental standards of new housing. 2. Delivering more affordable homes – we have a target to build an additional 6,000 new affordable homes by 2021. 3. Addressing students’ housing needs – including promoting graduate retention and ensuring that the accommodation offered to students matches the growth plans of our Universities and Colleges. 4. Delivering high quality homes – investing in private housing standards and management, promoting a strong and sustainable social housing sector and working with Your Homes Newcastle to ensure that our tenants receive the best possible services.

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5. The City Council has a statutory duty to research, understand and actively work towards meeting the housing needs of our 6. Delivering sustainable neighbourhoods – maintaining the vitality of popular neighbourhoods and ensuring that housing renewal and growth makes a meaningful contribution to regeneration and social cohesion. 7. Homes for older people and people with disabilities – increasing the range and diversity of supported housing, improving the range of housing options for older people and building more homes that are suitable through a lifetime including more wheelchair accessible homes. 8. Homes for an increasingly diverse population – we are currently nearing the completion of a Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) Housing Strategy. 9. Homes for vulnerable people and people with support needs – developing clear pathways to plan peoples’ move from temporary accommodation to a permanent home, managing a broad network of support to help prevent homelessness and working with Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and private landlords to increase housing options for vulnerable people.

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Area 112 km2) Population 271,600 inhab. (2007 mid-year estimates) Metropolitan area or similar Newcastle is one of two major urban centres (the other is Sunderland) in the Tyne and Wear City Region which consists of 13 local authority areas other, i.e. around the two urban areas on the river Tyne and the river Wear. The …………………… ………. city region extends into Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south.

II.2. Urban context

A. Local data

Population (2008) 271 600 (mid year estimate 2007)

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age breakdown proportion > 60 years of age : 19.8 % proportion < 20 years of age : 22.9% Black and Minority Ethnic population 8%

individuals receiving social benefits : Incapacity benefit 6.4% housing benefit 30% of all households (feb 2007)

Unemployment rate (august 2008) 5.4% Newcastle (2.9% UK) (based on numbers claiming job seekers allowance)

Households Total no. of households 116 420 Single pensioner households 19 978 17.2%

2 or more pensioners 9 821 8.4% single non pensioner 23 628 20.3% 2 or more adults, no children 35 497 30.5% lone parent 6 358 5.5% 2 + adults, 1 child 10 046 8.6% 2+ adults, 2 + children 10 912 9.4%

B. General Newcastle is one of eight “Core Cities” (after London) and the regional situation capital of North Eastern England. It is a significant population centre, and although the neighbouring city of Sunderland is larger in population

terms, it is the region’s economic centre, with some 160,000 jobs (around a third of those in the sub-region. It is also an important transport

interchange for air, rail and road and attracts a number of business and administrative national and regional headquarters. A group of academic

centres, including two universities, are also found here and students comprise 15% of the total population. In the last 5 years the long-term decline in population has slowed and reversed, helped by migration from Europe. The strong links between the city and its large surrounding housing market area mean that there has been a tendency for households to move to neighbouring areas to live. The need to attract new and retain the existing population remains a key issue for the city.

II.3. Housing context A. Local housing data Total housing stock is some 122,000: • 55% owner occupation (67,000)

• 32% social renting (38,000)

• 13% private renting (16,000)

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Built structure includes: • 6,800 Detached houses (6%) • 35,000 semi-detached (30%) • 30,00 terraced houses (26%) • 26,000 flats (31%)

There are significant numbers of high-rise flats built in the 60s and 70s and significant numbers of Tyneside flats which comprise two flats as the upper and lower stories of a terraced house.

Average week social housing rent £49 (1 bedroom to £70 (4 bedroom). Number of new affordable housing units built: 103 (2006/7), 53 (2005/6), 42 (2004/5). B. Main issues, The main issues for Newcastle’s housing: challenges 1. Housing for sustainable economic growth: we need to increase the (with a focus supply of housing of all types in a way that is environmentally sustainable on the role of and which creates mixed and balanced communities which are attractive ‘publicly to new and existing residents and have a stable long-term future. funded housing’) 2. Improved neighbourhood quality: we need to address the environmental, house condition and neighbourhood management issues

which depress the popularity of particular parts of the city and which have led to low demand and for housing and its abandonment. 3. We need to address the issues arising from the increasing diversity of the city’s population and the remaining high levels of deprivation. The

city’s role as a capital attracts large numbers of people with support needs and we need to provide them with housing and integrated support packages which maximises and stabilises their independence.

C. Definitions Affordable housing used in the ‘Affordable housing includes social rented and intermediate housing, ‘social provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the housing market. context’ Affordable housing should: – Meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices. – Include provision for the home to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households or, if these restrictions are lifted, for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision’.

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Social rented housing is: ‘Rented housing owned and managed by local authorities and registered

social landlords, for which guideline target rents are determined through the national rent regime. The proposals set out in the Three Year Review of Rent Restructuring (July 2004) were implemented as policy in April 2006. It may also include rented housing owned or managed by other persons and provided under equivalent rental arrangements to the above, as agreed with the local authority or with the Housing Corporation as a condition of grant.’

Intermediate affordable housing is: ‘Housing at prices and rents above those of social rent, but below market price or rents, and which meet the criteria set out above. These can include shared equity products (eg HomeBuy), other low cost homes for sale and intermediate rent.’ These definitions replace guidance given in Planning Policy Guidance Note 3: Housing (PPG3) and DETR Circular 6/98 Planning and Affordable Housing.

D. Main target Our target is to build 6,000 new affordable homes in the city by 2021. population New developments must have a minimum of 30% affordable homes

E. For private housing: Environment Area Newcastle Tyne & Wear England al standards Private dwellings 77634 322818 in housing –

Main issues, Non decent 31% 27% 37% challenges Thermal comfort 15% 14% 25%

HHSRS Cat 1 10% 10% 19%

Disrepair 11% 10% 9%

Non modern 2% 1% 2%

Vulnerable 19% 21% 16% occupants

Vulnerable non 9% 9% 7% decent

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Sap lees than 35 7% 6% 15%

Fuel poverty 7% 8% 8%

For council housing, 13,600 homes fail the government’s minimum m standard, the Decent Home Standard – 47%.

II.4. Land tenure A. Local data Land prices vary considerably in Newcastle as the city comprises neighbourhoods with very different character and popularity. Recent

sales of land produce an average sale price of £1.1m per hectare. The maximum in the most attractive parts of the city might go as high as £4m. Some 10% of recent residential development has been used for social housing, although planning policies recently adopted required that 30% should be affordable on sites above a certain size. Our recent Urban Capacity Study of the potential development sites in the city found that there were some 340 hectares available with the potential for around 17,000 units. Of this total around one half are thought to be in pubic ownership. The character of these sites tends to mean that they are more difficult to develop. B. Main issues, Nationally the priorities are to increase the supply of housing, to increase challenges the supply of affordable housing (particularly in the south east of the country) and to improve the sustainability of new and existing housing.

These issues are mirrored locally, with a shortage of all types and sizes of

housing, a particular shortage of affordable housing (although the difficulties are not comparable to those in the south east). There is competition from other uses of land – e.g. from office use in the city centre. Land values in particular parts of the city are low. Most of the available sites are now Brownfield and the legacy of the city’s industrial past means that many present difficulties in terms of contamination, ground condition and infrastructure.

III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives . Developed / agreed Objectives from the current housing Strategy include:

• 15,000 new homes by 2021, of which 9,000 will be houses, 7,500 will have three r more bedrooms, 2,500 will have four or more bedrooms.

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• 6,000 affordable homes of which 1,800 will be lower cost market housing, 1,200 social rented, 1,800 will be intermediate

housing and 1,200 will use innovative methods such as the Local Housing Company. • Modernise council housing to the government’s minimum standard by 2011 and address similar issues in strategically significant private housing. T co-ordinate this activity with a range of other action to maximise the impact of house market renewal. • Modernise housing for older people, including 350 bedsits, introduce a housing options service to improve access to all types of housing and related services, maximise independent living for vulnerable people through homelessness prevention, personalised plans and a new approach to temporary accommodation as “places for change. B. In elaboration • Joint work with a neighbouring authority to develop a “Growth or planned Point” to increase and co-ordinate the pace of new housebuilding

• Partnership with the private sector on a local housing

Company/housing expo in the East end of the city

• Partnership with the private sector to share risk in respect of the development of a range of sites across the city , with an increased proportion of social housing. (Local housing Company 2) C. Discussed III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / • Bridging NewcastleGateshead has a programme of activity agreed focussed on three Strategic commission areas in the West, the east and the North of the city.

o Walker Riverside

o Byker and Ouseburn o Scotswood and Benwell • Planning policy requires 30% of new housebuilding to comprise social renting. • To the north of the city there is a “Greenfield” development of higher costs housing at the Newcastle Great Park

B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed

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III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / • Decent Homes Investment Programme in council hosuing – agreed renewal of kitchens, bathrooms, window, heating and wiring to meet minimum government standards

• Financial support, advice and enforcement of standards in

private housing; a programme of area-based approaches, grant assistance, licensing of larger houses occupied by more than one household. B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / • Local Housing Company/housing expo to be a national agreed showcase of innovative approach to urban living and development to benefit local people and attract new people to

the area • Local Housing company to share sick with the private sector – the council contributing land and the private sector contributing finance to develop a programme of sites across the city • Growth Point – development of a sub-regional approach to housing development with Gateshead City Council which will (with government support) co-ordinate infrastructure funding to ensure that site area ready to develop and a sequential manner and consistent with regional targets. • Housing Toolkit – a partnership working framework to formalise the co-ordination of accommodation and support needs and integrate them with governance arrangements • Crisis Sky light a prestige learning centre for people threatened with homelessness to increase the options available to them and assist them to maximise independent living. B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed

IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Newcastle can contribute greatly to the exchange of experiences and good practice within the SUITE project. - social

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- environ- The City Council has a long track record of innovation particularly mental regarding the use of its land assets to facilitate housing-led regeneration. The Council is also active in a number of high profile projects that draw in - land significant amounts of private sector funding. (see also the Matrix The area is also used to develop a number of national housing pilots ‘Contributions and including housing market renewal, local housing companies, growth point expectations’ in part status and enhanced housing options. The lessons learned for these 2 of the Baseline pioneering projects can be effective learning tools for partner authorities. study) The City Council is particularly proud of our work in homelessness prevention for which we are Regional champion. The focus of these services have moved away for being predominantly property focused to that which seeks to concentrate on prevention and customer support.

IV.2. Main expectation issue: (to be completed) - social - environ- mental - land IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: - social The city council is keen to explore opportunities through is emerging Local Housing Companies and new build programme for new forms of - tenure. In particular the development of transitional tenure environmental arrangements that allow for the tenure balance to adapt to the social mix refers to: in a community then change with social and economic circumstances. whole area This could help to improve social cohesion within communities, removing any stigma associated with social housing and improve new build part resilience at times of economic difficulties. district In particular the City Council wants to demonstrate real leadership in quarter, tackling the recent housing problems that have arisen as a consequence neighbourhood of international financial difficulties. The experiences of other cites as one site, they deal with similar problems will be particularly helpful estate The City Council is actively working towards establishing a significant new build programme in its own right. In partnership with its arms length housing management company, Your Homes Newcastle, our aim is to build 500 new homes over the next five years.

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V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group No V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group phase 1 No phase 2 V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) Several V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - Norway, - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) Switzerland - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions)

- Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) -Transnational cooperation areas e.g. Atlanctic coast. - other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Programme ..)

VI. COMMENTS

VII. CONTACT Contact person: George Mansbridge Phone / fax: +44 191 277 7862 Mail contact: [email protected]

Spoken Language(s): English

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PARTNER PROFILE URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance Partner: Rennes Métropole

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: Rennes Métropole Type of organisation: The agglomeration of Rennes Metropole composed of 37 cities and villages, was created in 2000 after the The -Local authority Chevenement law of 12 July 1999 that promotes in - other France the building of inter municipal policies. The or- ganisation has several competences: public transport, social housing, waste treatment, social integration, eco- nomic development, culture, environment, etc.

http://www.rennes-metropole.fr/ Member State (OMS/NMS) France (OMS) Region Brittany (Bretagne) Province / federal province / land City Rennes Métropole Convergence/Competitiveness Competitiveness Region Official partner in the network Official partner in the network from phase 2. - From phase 1 Nevertheless, Rennes Métropole cooperated unofficially from the draft of the D.O.I. - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE projects department of Housing The Housing Department department for urbanism / urban planning … European Affairs Mission department housing/urbanism Energy Mission ? department for EU Affairs

other department(s) other institution(s) Responsible councillor Vice-President in charge of the Housing policy

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I.2. Competences regarding housing Scope of activities, - definition of the local housing program (PLH), land policy aiming fields of intervention at social and territorial diversity, construction of social housing and in housing matters housing improvement on the entire territory in order to ensure a good quantitative and qualitative balance and in order to ensure

the right to housing for every kind of person. - Housing policy: actions and financial support for social housing and housing for the underprivileged. Together with the national authorities, definition of the main principles for the housing alloca- (see also the Matrix ‘Compe- tion process, and control that these rules are being respected dur- tences’ in part 2 of the Base- ing the housing allocation process at the city level. line study) - travellers: identification and programming of the locations where

local camp sites may be set up, setting-up, fitting out, maintenance and management of the camp sites.

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Area : over 610 km² Population: 395,000 inhab. (2008) Metropolitan area The conurbation of Rennes Métropole has 37 cities. or similar Rennes Métropole stretches out around the city centre, with its other, i.e. 210,000 inhabitants, which is separated from the rest of the district by a green belt. …………………… ………. The new president of Rennes Metropole and the 103 community

councilors were elected in March 2008 for a period of 6 years. The majority of them belong to the left-wing party.

II.2. Urban context

A. Local data Demographics; population, households

Population (2008) 395,000

age breakdown proportion > 60 years of age : 15,8% (1999) proportion < 20 years of age : 24,2% (1999)

proportion of foreign citizens 3,5% Individuals receiving social benefits (2006):

-minimum income for inclusion (RMI ): 5424 - Benefits for single-parent family : 921 - benefits for disability : 4720

Unemployment rate (??year): 7% (below national average)

1999-2008 0.9% increase of what?

until 2015 an increase of 60 000 additional inhabitants

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Households (2007) 170 030 Households without children to support 118542 (70%) Households with 1 or 2 indi- viduals to support 41181 (24%) Households with more than 3 individuals to support 10307 (6%) Average number of people per household 2,25

http://www.audiar.org/demo/ B. General situation Rennes Metropole is in third place as regards population in- crease in French urban areas.

From 1990 to 1999, the population growth of Rennes Métropole

was 1.3% per year.

The population growth is even higher around Rennes Métropole in the metropolitan area of Rennes: increase by 1,8% per year (1990-1999). The population growth is “driven out” of Rennes Métropole, due to lack of housing: Rennes Métropole is not able to accommodate this population increase. This trend has been confirmed with the last statistics 1999-2007: slower growth for Rennes Métropole (+0,8%) and even higher growth for the metropolitan area (+2,0%). II.3. Housing context

A. Local housing data Stocks and proportions (1999) - Total housing stock : 157 111 (60% collective housing, 40% individual housing)

- home ownership 46,2% /rental 51,1% - Total social housing stock and proportion of total stock: 17,5% - 5% vacant homes (1999) - Number of new social housing unit over the past 9 years : 4 400 (1996- 2004), i.e. : 490/year (objective of the local housing programme : 1125/ year !) Costs and prices: - Average squared meter rent price for social housing : 270€/month for a 2- bedroom apartment ; 4,5€/months/ m²

- average actual construction cost / m² for a social housing : 1785 €/m² TTC for new constructions - average actual market construction cost / m² for housing : no reliable infor- mation B. Main issues, chal- At National level: lenges France has one of the largest stocks of housing in the EU when (with a focus on the measured on a number per thousand population basis (513 per role of ‘publicly funded 1000 inhabitants, see table), but this is partly due to a relatively housing’) large number of second homes. France is facing a housing crisis 3 RENNES Métropole

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affecting particularly middle to low income households and which concerns many regions and most urban centres. This crisis is due to an insufficient construction level throughout the last decade. Home ownership has grown steadily since 1954. 56% of French households own their own home. Between 1989 and 1995 the

increase in home ownership slowed down due to a decision by government to reduce subsidies.www.cecodhas.org At local level In the early years 2000, the housing production was insufficient (construction of approximately 2000 housing unit per year) with regard to the demand, which lead to : - explosion of property (real estate) prices (some prices doubled!) -driving the young working families outside Rennes Métropole, with its consequences on urban mobility (air pollution, territorial

dispersion of the (public) facilities, long term financial balance for the households, blocking residential rides within the metropolitan area) On a longer perspective, this situation could have lead eventually

to a weakening of the local economic development. The local housing programme was developed in order to tackle these issues. An other issue is to ensure, during the housing allocation process, that the needs of the priority population groups are met within the existing housing stock or new constructions, while respecting the social and territorial balance. travellers : Despite the numerous camp sites on the territory, there is a growing phenomenon of fixation (long-term settlement), which

reduces the turnover and the number of available locations. Hence the necessity of a new proposal for these needs. C. Definitions used in social housing : Type of rental housing having benefited from the ‘social housing financial support of the state , intended for households meeting context’ conditions of maximum resources affordable housing : - rental housing with a rent < 5€/m² (PLUS et PLAI )

- home ownership with retail price <1900€/m² (limit for RM. limit for the State : 2200€ ) The Local Housing Programme aims to meet the need for social D. Main target popula- housing (specially for the low-income families. Cf average yearly tion income of social housing candidates : 8935€), develop and adapt the housing stock for the elderly and disabled people, maintain and adapt the tools to help the poorest people (includ- ing marginalized persons) get access to housing), develop hous- ing for young people

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E. Environmental stan- In France, the current standard in effect for all new construc- dards in housing – tions is the RT 2005 (Réglementation Thermique = Thermal Main issues, regulation). A new regulation will be implemented in 2010 (the challenges RT 2010). The real consumption observed after implementation of the RT 2005 is about 120 kWh/m²/year regarding need for heating and

hot water. But this regulation does not precise if it concerns electrical energy or primary energy (gas, fuel oil, propane, wood). In addition to this regulation , some labels exist to prove an energy efficiency higher than the RT 2005 but are not com-

pulsory at national level. - Label HPE = corresponds to an energy consumption 10% be- low the RT 2005

- Label HPE EnR (=Energie Renouvelable = renewable energy) = RT 2005 -10% + solar hot water for at least 40% of the needs - Label THPE = RT 2005 –20% - Label THPE ENR = RT2005 -30% +renewable energy for hot water and/or for heating. - Label BBC (low energy consumption building) = 50 kWh pri- mary energy/m²/year for heating + hot water + refreshment + ventilation+ lighting. The label BBC is the objective defined by The Grenelle Environ- ment for 2010 for all public buildings, 2012 for housing and tertiary. This objective is very ambitious comparing to the cur- rent RT 2005.For the housing in rehabilitation, for the moment no compulsory measure exits. For housing on sale, only a en- ergy performance diagnostic is compulsory. Rennes Métropole through its Local Housing Programme made compulsory an energy performance at least 10% above the RT2005 in all the subsidized housing thanks to the certification Cerqual (which corresponds to the label HPE). The actual challenge is to combine high energy performance in housing and acceptable construction costs. II.4. Land tenure context The Maximum real estate cost authorized by Rennes Métropole A. Local data for social and intermediate housing : 275€/ m²

At national level, the land tenure context is characterised by a B. Main issues, chal- huge increasing of the land costs. The French legislation offers lenges several tools to control the land. Land control is done upstream from urban project. In Rennes Metropole :

Land policy (pre-emption and negotiation) in order to have the

necessary land for the construction of 4500 housing units per year, and in order to control real estate prices. 5 RENNES Métropole

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III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives Objectives of the local housing programme : A. Developed / − double the housing production : 4500 housing unit per year for agreed 2005-2012, of which 50% subsidised housing, of which 25% social housing − active land policy aiming at creating land reserves − develop land planning operation managed by the local authorities (e.g. concerted development zones) − contractualise these objectives with the towns and the real estate developers for any land planning operation over 30 housing units. travellers: continue to set up camp sites according to the local scheme;

develop a new housing- product adapted to the travellers' needs ; pro- gramming of housing for the travellers within the new development zones http://www.rennes-metropole.fr/rennes-metropole/grands- projets/programme-local-de-l-habitat/plh-programme-local-de-l-habitat-a- rennes-rennes-metropole.html http://www.rennes-metropole.fr/rennes-metropole/grands- projets/programme-local-de-l-habitat/programme-local-de-l-habitat-rennes- metropole-objectifs-et-enjeux.html B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / - In order to complete the actual offer (social / market based), production agreed of an « intermediate » line : rental or subsidized ownership: 25% of the total production

- system to purchase or finance adapted housing solutions (isolated or collective) for the persons who can’t live in a “normal” housing . - obligation (by contract with the member cities and developers) of social mix for every urban development over 30 housing units : 50% subsidised housing = 25% social rental housing + 25% “intermediate” housing -support the evolution of families’ situations in terms of housing (“parcours résidentiels”) with a rent-policy on local level : low-rent offer in the attrac- tive part of the social housing stock + enhancement of the attractiveness of the large social housing districts. Tools exist that enable people to change in type of housing (from renting to housing) : subsidized owner- ship - one camp site for travellers in each member city, created and managed by Rennes Métropole. B. In elaboration or planned

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III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Rennes Métropole’s choice is to promote high energy standard for every- agreed one, especially for social housing. Since 2005, 50% of the production has to reach an energy consumption at least 10% under the French standard in effect, through the label “habitat and environment”. In addition, the eco-neighbourhood “La Courrouze”, under the authority or Rennes Métropole itself, aims at promoting very high energy standards . All the buildings (4700 housing units) have to reach an energy saving of 20% compared to the national standard, which corresponds to the very high energy performance label of the French regulation (THPE 2005). So- lar panels for production of hot water and centralized hot water heating systems are compulsory for all the buildings. http://www.lacourrouze.fr/ Several high performance buildings in the area of Rennes Métropole : - Salvatierra (Rennes, 2001) built within the frame of a CEPHEUS European program (45 kWh/m²/y) - Villa Belle-Ile (Mordelles,2004) (60 kWh/m²/y) - Solaris (Rennes, 2003) (50 kWh/m²/y) - Les heliades (Vezin-le-Coquet, 2008) (30 kWh/m²/y) B. In elaboration -Building of the eco-neighbourhood La Courrouze from 2006 to 2020 or planned -Rennes Metropole will launch in November 2008 a call for proposals for low energy consumption buildings in order to realise innovative op-

erations that bring innovative and repeatable solutions. Working groups and workshops will be organised from 2009 and the building projects will be implemented from 2009 to 2011.

C. Discussed

III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / - Development of a scheme of real estate action in favour of housing : agreed observation, pre-emption, purchase, create land reserves in order to have the necessary land for the construction of 4500 housing units per

year and in order to control real estate prices. - Locations dedicated to social housing in the local land use plans - Development of public development areas (ZAC) B. In elaboration or planned

C. Discussed

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IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution LAND issue: -land policy (pre-emption and negotiation) in order to control the -social purpose of land, the development of the city and to have the nec- essary land for the construction of 4500 housing units per year, - environmental and in order to control real estate prices. - land SOCIAL

(see also the Matrix ‘Contribu- - Tool of contractualisation tions and expectations’ in part 2 Rennes Métropole contractualises with towns/villages and devel- of the Baseline study) opers to meet the objectives of the Local Housing Programme. By introducing an obligation of social mix in the operations of urban- ism, the tool of contractualisation enables to influence the market. The Commission Locale de l'Habitat (Local committee of housing) of Rennes Metropole is part of the PLH. Its role is to put in relation offer and demand of social housing for the most vulnerable groups; Several housing units exit for the vulnerable social groups. Rennes Métropole has 500 urgent housing units for inclusion of vulnerable social groups. They contribute to social mix in Rennes Métropole. One specific tool exits for urgent housing : the AIVS (Agence Immobilière à Vocation Sociale) = social estate agency . This agency , which is a public initiative, enables to obtain and manage a part of private housing stock for the benefice of the vulnerable social groups and brings to owners rental guarantees. Another tool : ALFADI (Association for Housing and families in dif- ficulties) which brings a social support to families and manages social residencies. Within the housing department, an area is in charged of the wel- come of travellers (creation and management of camp sites). IV.2. Main expectation issue: ENVIRONMENTAL/ECONOMIC ISSUES : How to build faster and for lower cost, while respecting the environ- -social mental rules? - environmental The actual challenge is to combine high energy performance and - land acceptable construction costs in order to enable the production of housing with affordable rents for vulnerable social groups. What (see also the Matrix ‘Contribu- are the building methods that could meet this demand ? What tions and expectations’ in part 2 organization of building line? Are there solutions that can be re- of the Baseline study) peated in a industrial way within the respect of environmental rules and urban quality? SOCIAL : How to meet specific needs? -How to adapt the housing stock for elderly persons ? What kind of housing for elderly households who want to stay at home and who need a support and adapted services? 8 RENNES Métropole

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-Travellers: What kind of new offer to meet the sedentarisation (settlement) of travellers, while respecting social balance of the neighbourhood and the cohesion in the group. IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: Rennes Metropole expects as a final output of the project to be able to write a set of recommendations on social housing issues - social and to include them in the next Local Housing Programme that will

- environmental be implemented from 2012. If the results of the project are effec- tive and give innovative solutions to the challenges Rennes Metro- refers to: pole is facing, the local authority is expecting also to be able to whole area experiment these practices in a specific neighbourhood. The good part practices drawn out during the European exchanges will be linked and compared with the practices implemented at local level. district These actions will be realised in collaboration with the Local Sup- quarter, neighbourhood port Group composed of stakeholders to housing issues : Rennes one site, estate Métropole, housing associations (bailleurs sociaux), ADO HLM, French Union Sociale pour l’Habitat, , city of Rennes, AIVS (social

estate agency), ALFADI (Association for Housing and families in difficulties).

V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group NO V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group NO V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …)

V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 15 -Transnational cooperation areas (Atlantic coast)

VI. COMMENTS None VII. CONTACT Contact person: Sylviane VAUTIER Phone / fax: 0299866048 Mail contact: [email protected]

Spoken Language(s): French, English, Spanish 9 RENNES Métropole

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Lead Partner: Santiago de Compostela

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: Santiago de Compostela City Council Concello de Santiago de Compostela Type of organisation: Santiago de Compostela, the political and administrative X -Local authority capital of the Autonomous Region of Galicia, is one of - other the leading cities in Housing policies implementation in the Region of Galicia. Member State (OMS/NMS) Old Member State Region Galicia Province / federal province / land A Coruña City Santiago de Compostela Convergence/Competitiveness Convergence Region Region Official partner in the network Lead Partner in the network since Phase I and we will X - From phase 1 also be Lead Partner in Phase II - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project department for Housing Mrs. Berta Rosón X department for urbanism / City Planning and Infrastructures General Manager urban planning … Mrs. Mercedes Rosón X department housing/urbanism City Councillor in Urbanism and Housing X department housing/urbanism Mrs. Aurora García-Boente department for EU Affairs SUITE Project coordinator X other department(s) Ms. Belén Mendoza X other institution(s) International Relations Mr. X. M. Rey Pichel Emuvissa General Manager Responsible councillor Mrs. Mercedes Rosón Urbanism and Housing City Councillor I.2. Competences regarding housing Scope of activities, The City Council department of Urbanism and Housing drives an fields of intervention active policy in urbanism which is characterized by the pursuit of in housing matters objectives really ambitious, the urban quality and a resolute bet in

favour of sustainability. Housing policy is one of the priorities, by planning additional land for the building of new dwellings and by developing the existing town planning for the construction of 7,000 new dwellings of public promotion, under the regime of property or renting. This department also stimulates urbanization programs in the whole of the city and continues with the rehabilitation policy in the 1

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historical centre and with the extension of these policies to new areas of the city. We are improving according to this, in the construction of new facilities and new services, all done with a territorial balance approach.

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility X City Area 220,34(km2) Population 94.186 inhab. (2008)1 Metropolitan area or similar Santiago de Compostela is the administrative capital of the other, i.e. Autonomous Region of Galicia. There are 17 Autonomous Regions …………………… ………. and 2 Autonomous Cities in Spain. Santiago also is one of the main

cities of A Coruña Province, one of the four provinces of the Galicia

Region. Santiago is also the head of a bigger metropolitan area, formed by seven towns: the Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Comarca de Santiago (Community of Towns of the Santiago Region). www.santiagodecompostela.org

II.2. Urban context

A. Local data Population of the city (2008)………………………94.186

Population Total Men Women Year Source Population 93.712 43.735 49.977 2007 INE2 0-15 years 11.760 6.000 5.760 2007 INE 16-64 years 65.855 31.460 34.395 2007 INE 65 years or more 16.097 6.275 9.822 2007 INE Foreign people 3.374 1.549 1.825 2007 INE Age average 42,4 40,6 44 2007 IGE

Natural movement of the Total Men Women Year Source population Births 797 407 390 2007 IGE-INE Deaths 843 413 430 2007 IGE-INE Marriages 387 2007 IGE-INE Vegetative balance -46 2007 IGE-INE

Population census 2001: Population in family housing according to age and sex in five years

groups (see next page).

1 City Council Statistics Book, first 2008 semester. 2 2 INE (National Institute of Statistics), IGE (Galician Institute of Statistics) SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA CITY COUNCIL

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Men Women Total

0-4 years 1.672 1.592 3.264

5-9 years 1.775 1.720 3.495

10-14 years 2.156 2.113 4.269

15-19 years 2.812 2.896 5.708

20-24 years 3.937 3.872 7.809

25-29 years 3.917 3.920 7.837

30-34 years 3.325 3.640 6.965

35-39 years 3.264 3.680 6.944

40-44 years 3.320 3.770 7.090

45-49 years 3.013 3.607 6.620

50-54 years 2.892 3.149 6.041

55-59 years 2.450 2.685 5.135

60-64 years 1.671 2.012 3.683

65-69 years 1.942 2.372 4.314

70-74 years 1.536 2.137 3.673

75-79 years 1.015 1.711 2.726

80-84 years 624 1.299 1.923

85-89 years 286 701 987

90 or more 109 352 461

Total 41.716 47.228 88.944 Population in family housing according the size of the home

People Percentage

1 person 5.600 6,30

2 people 11.438 12,86

3 people 18.126 20,37

4 people 26.012 29,25

5 people 14.775 16,61

6 people 7,524 8,46

7 people 2,982 3,35

8 people 1,288 1,45

9 people 612 0,69

10 or more people 587 0,66 3 Total 88.944 100,00 SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA CITY COUNCIL

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Most significant foreign nationalities living in Santiago (2006) Nationality Men Women Total Brazil 150 237 387 Argentina 181 183 364 Portugal 166 130 296 Colombia 73 168 241 Venezuela 72 110 182 Italia 95 79 174 Paraguay 43 99 142 Uruguay 74 55 129 Morocco 71 48 119 China 70 40 110 Dominican 26 76 102 Republic B. General situation Santiago de Compostela is located in the northern half of Galicia; it constitutes the equidistant physical centre of the other big cities in

Galicia. Santiago de Compostela organizes itself in five pillars: the political-administrative one, as the seat of the Galician's

government institutions; the educational one, because of the weight of the University of Santiago de Compostela; the health

pillar due to the importance of the large hospital complex linked to the Faculty of Medicine; the tourist and cultural ones, which bring support to the dynamism of the hotel and restaurant sectors; and the commercial one, as the head of consumption of a large metropolitan area. Thanks to its University and its research institutes, Santiago holds a great volume of technological and scientific resources to support innovative initiatives in the industrial world and in the tertiary sector. In addition, due to its exceptional location in the Atlantic axis of Galicia, it offers a great accessibility and also a good degree of interconnection with the cities of Galicia, with the rest of the regions in Spain and with Portugal; and in addition there are its international communications through the Lavacolla airport. Finally, Santiago de Compostela in its condition of the capital of Galicia is a great centre of institutional services coming under the Xunta de Galicia. II.3. Housing context

A. Local housing data Santiago de Compostela has grown in all directions, especially towards the south. Since 1998 about 10,000 new houses were

built, about a 35% of them had some kind of public protection. But the city map of Compostela was already increased by the addition of green areas and new infrastructures. The growth experienced during this time, has moved us from the traditional village to the capital of Galicia with city planning intelligent and responsible criteria that now, years later, shows us a city which knew how to growth with quality of life. 4

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STOCKS AND PROPORTIONS Total Housing Stock

Number of houses

Publicly Protected Housing or Social Housing of Public 3.142 Promotion

Protected Housing of Private Promotion 2.265

Free Private Promotion Housing 41.593

Total 47.000 Home ownership/rental

Private housing/rent 7.351

Public housing/rent 212

Public housing with a relegated purchase 302 The total of housing that we can consider as “social housing” having subsidy in some degree and a limited retail price is the 11,5% of the total of housing in the city (5.407 houses) Built Structure

Blocks 36.330

House (detached, semi-detached or terraced) 10.670 New Social Housing Units: From 2006 to 2007 year 170 social housing of public promotion were built, and nowadays 460 dwellings of public promotion are being built. Costs and prices (2008): - Average squared meter rent price for social housing: A wide range that can change depending on the familiar incomes that goes from 54,58 €/year to 75,04 €/m2 year and that can be reduced up to a 40% for garages and lumber rooms. - Average actual construction cost/m2 for social housing: 655 €/m2 - Average actual market construction cost/m2 for housing: 750-850 €/m2 (free housing medium type) . In the local context we face up to the following issues: B. Main issues, - The lack of housing at an affordable price. challenges - The new needs of different dwellings for new typologies of (with a focus on the families, and for special collectives like young people or the role of ‘publicly elderly. funded housing’) - Families move to the outskirts with fatal consequences for mobility, accessibility and the use of facilities by citizens. - New areas of economic development under construction will create a huge demand of housing nearby.

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- The land is owned by a lot of owners what difficult its

acquisition for being available for the public.

In this context our main challenges are: - The development of the approved general plans that conform the urban planning of the city which take into account and aim to solve this problematical context. - The design of a sustainable and affordable urbanism which connects all the areas and neighborhoods in the city.

- The searching of alternative solutions for new typologies of families and for the most disadvantages in the society to be able of affording a house: young people and the elderly.

- The construction of dwellings taking into account high quality and environmental standards, especially in terms of energy.

Autonomic protection housing: These are houses classified by the C. Definitions used Regional Government as houses with some limitations in the in the ‘social conditions that the beneficiary must fulfill and about the housing context’ characteristics the house and its maximum prize has as a exchange of some subsidies. The houses can be allocated to selling or renting and the houses will be the regular and permanent accommodation of its inhabitants.

In Galicia region there are different kinds of autonomic protection for selling: of an especial regime, of a general prize and of arranged price (with different maximum prizes) and two different kinds of

autonomic protection for renting: of a basic rent and of an arranged rent (with different maximum prizes). The entrance to each type of housing depends on familiar incomes of the petitioner. Cooperative: an association of private individuals or legal entities that having common interests or socio-economic hardships, decide to develop a housing promotion activity to bring to its partners houses or business premises, with this objective they can start tasks of purchasing, parceling out or development of lands as well as the carrying out of the works and services they need. The City Council jointly with the Regional Government pays a D. Main target special attention to the people that more needs the assistance, low population income acquirers, single-parent families, and families with a handicapped person, the elderly, families which need to take care of an old person. The Council also promotes the renting among young people; we

have to remember that Spain is strongly oriented towards home ownership. Since last year, there is in force in the entire Region a new E. Environmental regulation called “Habitat rules”. The buildings and houses built in standards in the city must fulfill these recently approved rules that are based in housing – new concepts applied to construction as sustainable housing, Main issues, recycling, energy saving and isolation linked to the existing challenges concerns in the care of the environment and the nature. The main challenge of the City Council is to give priority to real 6 estate developers that include these ideas and promote the SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA CITY COUNCIL

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inclusion of these issues especially in social housing, public or

private promoted. Santiago has a real interest in receive learning regarding this issue, especially climate, isolation, allocation and other measures that can help to save energy in the houses. II.4. Land tenure context Proportions used for social housing in the city: A. Local data - Of public ownership, a 2,5% of the new houses in land available for development must be allocated for renting - Of public promotion but for subsidized selling or protected, the 40% of the new houses in land available for development For protected housing we have the following gradient depending on family incomes: - 1.061.20 €/m2 usable land - 1.212,80 €/m2 usable land - 1.364,40 €/m2 usable land Prices are reduced in a 40% for garages and lumber rooms. Maximum allowed land price/m2 for social housing: The 20-25% of the value in purchasing of the public promotion housing In 2000 year, with the setting up of Emuvissa, the urban B. Main issues, development of the city experienced a definitive boost. The City challenges Council set up this company, with its capital completely council owned, to stimulate and speed up the managing of the land and of the housing in Compostela. Attending to this perspective, it was always understood that it is important to boost new urban planning policies, innovative and appropriately coordinated in its management, which bet for a sustainable urban development, the rational use of the landing, the energy efficiency and new ways of management which appear with the municipal public company. Bearing in mind theses objectives, the city planning and the land planning regulations are, above all, a public function, which seek the common interest and the social cohesion. Fortunately, Compostela has an important supply of housing with some protection regime. At the present, it overtakes the 40% of the real state park and is foreseen to increase that percentage with the delivery of the social housing that are now being designed or under construction.

III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General Housing Policies, local actions and initiatives Santiago de Compostela has been growing in all directions, especially A. Developed / towards the south, and also has been rehabilitating the existent agreed foundations in a previously ordered, designed and planned way, from the municipal and from the regional institutions.

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Since 1989 with the General Plan for the Urban Planning of the city and

also with the Special Rehabilitation Plan of the Historical Town, and facing the future with the new General Plan. Since 1998 about 10,000 new houses were built, about a 35% of them had some kind of public protection. But the city map of Compostela was already increased by the addition of green areas and new infrastructures. The growth experienced during this time, has moved us from the traditional village to the capital of Galicia with city planning intelligent and responsible criteria that now, years later, shows us a city which knew how to growth with quality of life. The urban development of Compostela gained an important boost since 1987 with the building of the first housing developments in Fontiñas, with more than 3.000 public protection houses. Years later the great urban project of Restollal follows, which the same as it had happened in Fontiñas, was completed with a shopping centre first and with the Eugenio Granell park later, which contributed to the city with a new relaxation area with 130,000 m2 for the leisure and the benefit of the inhabitants of the urban spaces nearby and even the ones of the traditional Ensanche of the sixties.

Last September 2008 was approved the revision of the General Plan for B. In elaboration the Urban Planning in the City, on it there are foreseen more than or planned 40.000 new houses and it also insist in the supply of industrial land for the city. This new version of the General Plan was discussed among all the C. Discussed stakeholders in the city, designed by the City Council and approved by the Regional Government, taking into account all rules that applied to it.

III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives Santiago de Compostela has started to develop “Social Housing A. Developed / policies” since seventies and continues to do that with the new General agreed Urban City Plan that was approved in 2008 In the seventies the housing state of Vite is developed, with about 1,700 housing, peculiar action and clear example of a rational and balanced treatment of the land.

Later on, at the end of the eighties, the performances in the housing state of Fontiñas, related to social housing start, as we have already said before. Then, in the nineties, starting form a framework co- operation agreement on the issue of housing and residential land with the Autonomous Region, seven areas of land were promoted and developed, these lands meant the building of a total of almost 1,800 social housing in various areas of the city from north to south. Santiago City Council has always considered as essential to boost co- operation policies among public institutions, without forgetting the necessary emphasis of co-operation with the private sector. Institutional co-operation and co-ordination are key pieces of the city to being able of provide its citizens with social housing in a suitable number and of a high quality. The most notable thing of these interventions is that we are facing 8

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complete performances, endowed with all kind of equipments and services, with a special attention to the public space, emphasizing an interesting aspect: the treatment of the edges of these areas means the integration of the historic buildings in this new space of the city, reflected also in the new road networks. Since 2002, with the creation of a municipal enterprise to deal with “Housing isuues”, Emuvissa, there has been started the housing state 6 and 7 of Fontiñas, with a total of 332 social housing; the housing development 1 of Meixonfrío with 172 and the SUNP 22 of Castro de Abaixo with 288 housing all of them under protection regime, today all finished completely. The land in which have been also built 564 free housing in the SUP 5 of la Choupana are already developed, 820 housing also free in the SUP 6 of Santa Marta, today also finished. At present the SUP 7 of Pontepedriña is being developed, with a capacity for 602 houses of public protection. In other hand, Emuvissa was in charge of the management of 39,000 m2 of business land in the industrial state of Costa Vella, also already working. As we can see the municipal action is whole and complete and it not only goes for the management of the social housing but also wants “to build city”; and, this can be reached by planning and implementing actions that made that the citizens of Santiago and its visitors live and enjoy the city. With this spirit they take part also in the management of the industrial land and in the supply of free housing coming from the private initiative. To end with, planned performances are being implemented, for the B. In elaboration next four-year period of 2007-2011 is foreseen to build 4,970 more, or planned encouraging in that way the possibility of housing access to the less favoured classes. Fortunately, Compostela has an important supply of housing with some protection regime. At the present, it overtakes the 40% of the real state park and is foreseen to increase that percentage with the delivery of the social housing that are now being designed or under construction. The North Ensanche areas of the city, as there are defined in the new General Plan of the City Planning, which was approved in 2007 year, are the biggest reserves of social housing for the future, reaching almost the 10,000 housing. Therefore, this social housing policy considered in the General Plan, will be undoubtedly an even more effective stimulation of the land of Compostela, and will mean a continuation of the urban lines outlined with great success in the previous plan which now reaches to its end with its objectives fulfilled. And as an example of the first performance of the new General Plan is the one of A Pulleira which will make effective all the indicated previously, opening the city towards the north, with almost 2,200 new residences. The Partial Plan of this performance was initially approved last week. Now it has started a mechanism to ensure the participation of citizens through its public exhibition. As last and brief reference we would like to highlight that this implementation solves acoustic impact problems that are connected with the A Coruña road and with the de Asturias Avenue. And, in the other hand, encourage positive aspects and environmental advantages of the area, as the fact of profit the small river beds to the creation of a 9

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future lake promoting in that way the landscape regulation. The urban planning and the new architecture that emerge in this land promote the lines and flows of meeting, giving importance to the square and to routes of all kind. Therefore, with this performance started the implementation of the new General Plan for the City Planning, a plan that has foreseen 10,000 social housing for the new land programming. C. Discussed III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives For housing building in the city. Real estate developers must take into A. Developed / account all the rules involved with this issue. It can be of a regional or agreed a local administration. Regional Government has a new regulation according to new ages, with a lot of efforts made to taking care of environment and energy- saving. The City Council also sets a minimum of requirements regarding the building requirements and the urbanization of the areas where new houses are established. City Council also takes measures regarding materials and trash recycling. Real estate developers in public bidding with better solutions for environment or energy-saving issues got better marking. There are plans of increasing policies and minimum standards in this B. In elaboration issue. Especially by means of the learning we will receive from the or planned network.

C. Discussed A high requirement in minimum standards can have discussions among citizens and promoters in the cities, so this is an issue in which we still

need to deep. III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives The first function that a city must satisfy is the one of provide to its A. Developed / citizens with a pleasant life. Today in Compostela, the building of the agreed city and the town planning of its future are integrated. The city planning of the last years proposes as its objective to make of Santiago a city to live in, with a constructive and aesthetic quality at the level of the inheritance received of our Historical City, world heritage site. The municipal principle of designing the city planning to the service of the citizens has received important national and international recognitions of and the town planning regulations established by the Xunta de Galicia3 identify Compostela, among the Galician large cities, as the city of the “city planning excellence”. The quality of life and the enhancement of the natural heritage are the elements that distinguish Santiago of the urban development criteria applied those days.

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Today is not possible to plan in Santiago a new residential or for

economic activities areas, without bearing in mind the green areas which are going to articulate them, the same as the suitable infrastructures and the services and equipments necessaries. The City Council has different instruments to deal with this matters.Last year the new Urban General Plan for the city was approved. There are also Special Plans for the city for some areas. The leading of the process is of the City Council but the final approval needs to be made by the Regional Government, there are also State laws that must be respected. Housing policy is one of the priorities, by planning additional land for the building of new dwellings and by developing the existing town planning for the construction of 7,000 new dwellings of public promotion, under the regime of property or renting. Since September 2008 we have had approved the new General Plan for B. In elaboration the City Planning. This Plan has three main axes: the first one is the or planned housing policy; we would like to give continuity to our policy, and even allow its growth. A second axis of the Plan is plan more land for industrial and economic activities, taking vantage of the strategically position the city have geographically and as the administrative capital

of Galicia, so there are reserved in the Plan more than eight millions m2 of land for economic activities. And, the third of the axis is based in the new infrastructures and equipments for the city supplying. The new General Plan was presented to the Regional Government and C. Discussed discussed till its final approval this year; it was also exposed to the public in the City Council.

IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Santiago, as a leader on this issue in our region, we feel also a -social big responsibility. We think that Santiago de Compostela City - environmental Council has made a good job in “Social Housing policies”, so we X - land would be very proud of explaining our policy and urban city planning implemented and we would be very happy of (see also the Matrix discussing with our colleagues in the network, in the meetings, ‘Contributions and expectations’ in the visits, with the assistance of the Lead Expert and in the in part 2 of the Baseline study) framework of the Local Support Group. We can contribute with land development policies and instruments. We think we can show the way City Council can act as a developer of social housing construction in the city through regulations and a co-operation system with other actors. Same for the different ways of co-operation to support the housing sector and also the individuals, for instance, exchange, cooperatives, mediation and others. 11

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IV.2. Main expectation issue: We face the URBACT network as the ideal meeting point to deal with “Social Housing” issue between diversity of European X -social entities and experts, and as a great opportunity to make an

X - environmental exchange of experiences of high quality. - land We are willing to receive a lot of information, and to study and analyse how other European cities are working with this issue. (see also the Matrix The problems they had had, because often see the problems in ‘Contributions and expectations’ other places can help you to take decisions, and also of course in part 2 of the Baseline study) the solutions they have reached, to see in which way we can incorporate the solutions into our policies, taking into account our peculiarities. We have a special interest in environment and energy-saving policies in other cities and countries in European Union. We will also find really useful the contributions we will have from other networks or entities that will be collaborating with the project.

IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: Santiago de Compostela City Council will define and adopt a local action plan that will be designed as a solution to tackle the - social problems faced by our city. - environmental In a first step, a broad study of the situation and the main refers to: challenges in the city will be done. As a next step, The policy makers and other experts, with the assistance of the Urbact whole area Local Support Group, and with the experiences that are starting part to be exchanged in the network, it will be designed a local action plan where all the learning from the network could be district applied in the city. quarter, neighbourhood Attending to this perspective, it was always understood that it is one site, estate important to boost new urban planning policies, innovative and appropriately coordinated in its management, which bet for a

sustainable urban development, the rational use of the landing, the energy efficiency and new ways of management which appear with the municipal public company. Bearing in mind theses objectives, the city planning and the land planning regulations are, above all, a public function, which seek the common interest and the social cohesion. The city of Santiago express its commitment to draw and implement the local action plan designed by the City Council with the support of the recently created URBACT Local Support Group in the city in the following years.

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V. URBACT and EU - INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group None None

V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group Santiago de Compostela City Council will also take part in WEED WEEDS network as a partner for Phase II. This network intends to phase 1 establish a Thematic Network of cities which will address the theme of "Women, Enterprise and Employment in Local X phase 2 Development". In particular, the network will focus on the key issues of: - women and entrepreneurship - women in research and knowledge economy - gender inequalities in the workplace and the labour market

V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) Santiago de Compostela City Council has actively participated in numerous and varied European co-operation networks, especially in the Atlantic Area. Since June 2007 Santiago holds the Presidency of the Conference of Atlantic Arc Cities, and Santiago has already been president of the European Association Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular where today is an active member. European projects Santiago has been involved in and their programs: - FINESTRA - Recite II (Sustainable urban renewal and management) - "Cities of Cinema" - Interreg IIIC (Cities as film settings) - ATLANTE - Interreg IIIB (Development for historical centres) - CULTUR*AT - Interreg IIIB (Cultural dynamization of cities) - "URBS Heritage for Qu fu" - Asia Urbs (Protection and enhancement of the historical heritage of Qu fu) - PAGUS - Interreg IIIC (Management and Governance of Urban Sustainability) - PAGUS-AL - URB-AL (Exchange of Best Practices regarding common strategies and instruments for the recovery, reclassification, management and sustainable development of historical centres) - PERSO@, PERSO@ II, PERSO@ III - ESF - "Compostela Social" - Equal - HABILITAS - Socrates - PARTNER - Interreg IIIB (Development of transports system) - TRASLATIO I, TRASLATIO II - Interreg IIIA - "Aula de conocimiento del medio rural" – Proder (Culture space for the knowledge of the rural environment) 13

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V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 X - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) X - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - Norway, Switzerland X - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) X -Transnational cooperation areas

- other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Programme ..)

VI. COMMENTS We have a special interest in the work cities can do through cities networks like this one, we are really committed to other networks at an international, national, regional and local level.

VII. CONTACT

Contact person: Ms. Belén Mendoza International Relations Department – Mayor’s Cabinet Phone / fax: Phone: 0034981542373 / Fax: 0034981542370 Mail contact: [email protected] Spoken Language(s): Spanish and English, some knowledge of French, Portuguese,

Czech, Turkish and Chinese www.santiagodecompostela.org

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: Siemianowice Śląskie

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner organisation: Siemianowice Śląskie

Type of organisation: Siemianowice Śląskie is a borough functioning on the rights of a poviat -Local authority (structure explained at: http://gospodarka.silesia- - other region.pl/en/adm2.php) City website at: www.siemianowice.pl (in Polish)

Member State (OMS/NMS) NMS Region Silesian Voivodship Province / federal province / land Poviat of Siemianowice Śląskie City Siemianowice Śląskie

Convergence/Competitiveness Convergence Region Region Official partner in the network - From phase 1 - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project department of Housing Department of Housing Stock, Department of Town Planning & Architecture(urbanism/urban planning), Or- department for urbanism / ganizational Department, Public Utilities Department will urban planning … take part in the project. Housing Stock Department is department housing/urbanism the main department responsible for the project. See department for EU Affairs attachment for City Council organizational structure. other department(s) other institution(s)

Responsible councillor Elected Member – Vice Mayor 1

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I.2. Competences regarding housing Scope of activities, - defining strategy/ policies in housing fields of intervention - allocation of housing stock in housing matters - financial aid for individuals

- definition of quantified objectives for social mix - definition of localization for social mix (in relation with target groups, form of tenure, in new constructions or in existing housing stock,…)

(see also the Matrix ‘Compe- - definition of target groups tences’ in part 2 of the Base- - definition of the quantified objectives of construction/rehabilitation line study) The city can create and own a municipal housing stock. It can also rent living space and other premises and sublet it.

In Siemianowice Slaskie completing the task of securing social and interchangeable housing, as well as accommodation for the families with low income is being completed by using municipal housing stock.

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Area 25,5(km2) Population 72.000 inhab. (2007) Metropolitan area Siemianowice Śląskie is a part of Metropolitan Association of or similar Upper Silesia. Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia is formed by 14 cities, located in the heart of Upper Silesian other, i.e. conurbation, with unprecedented on the European scale ur- ban density of 2 mil. people living on the area of 1468 sq km.

It is a borough functioning on the rights of a ‘poviat’ (A ‘poviat’ exe- cutes the public tasks of cross-borough nature. It serves the inhabitants in quite a general scope, among others, it maintains and manages schools, libraries and social clubs, supervises the road constructions and repairs as well as manages the social welfare and fights the unemployment). II.2. Urban context

A. Local datai Population (2007) 72.000 Female 52% under 20.....20% 20 – 65...... 66% age breakdown (2006) over 65...... 14% c. a. 320 Roman Families (no accurate ethnicity (2008..): …... data available) Individuals receiving social benefits (2007) 10% Unemployment rate ( July 2008): 11,3% population growth (from 2006 to 2007) -0,27% recent 2

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Households (2002) single households 31% couples 26% families 43% (among them big families +4 people) 48% Households receiving social benefits (2002): 17% Households receiving housing benefits (allowances) (2008): 6% B. General situation • Siemianowice Śląskie is located in Upper Silesian Industry Area in Poland and in the centre of Silesian Metropolitan Area with the population of 2,5 mil. people. • Up to year 2000 it was the centre of Polish heavy industry with many coal mines and iron works and also biggest block of flats building company was located in the city. • During 1996 – 2002 period all this working places were closed down leaving 20.000 people unemployed. • In 2002 after transformations mentioned above unemploy- ment rate reached the biggest level in Poland of 32,8 % • Previous political and economical system of Poland left chaos in urban planning in the city as well as lots of post – indus- trial remaining like coal mines and iron works infrastructure, mine waste dumps, slag heaps etc.

II.3. Housing context A. Local housing data Stocks and proportions (2006): -Total housing stock – 29934 accommodations among which: • 17 % is owned by city • 55% owned by housing stock associations • 6% owned by working places, factories etc. • 21% owned by inhabitants

Total housing stock (buildings – 2006): - municipal house buildings: 259 - house buildings co – owned by housing associations and the city:130 - house buildings under receivership:139 - home ownership/ rental: 130/ 398 (buildings) - Total social housing stock and proportion of total stock: 428/ 7426 (flats) - Number of new social housing unit over the past 10 years: c. a. 50 flats Costs and prices: - Average squared meter rent price for social housing: 0,23 € 3

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- Average actual construction cost/ m2 for a social housing: c. a. 612 – 641 € + transportation and infrastructure costs; re- building administrative building and converting it into social housing costs c. a. 525 €/ m2 - average actual market construction cost/ m2 for housing: 915€ Housing associations stock dominates in Siemianowice Slaskie. B. Main issues, Flats and other premises owned by housing associations are challenges generally in better condition than municipal housing and other (with a focus on the premises. About 60% buildings in the city is almost 100 years role of ‘publicly funded old. Increasing number of poor people among inhabitants of housing’) Siemianowice Slaskie results in rent arrears in housing associa- tions flats as well as in municipal flats.

The city is obliged by law to provide accommodation for its in- habitants with low income and social housing due to eviction (especially for housing associations and landlords). Problems in housing management: - problem with housing/ accommodation supply (increase of demand, no houses/ flats available)

- bad living conditions. Average rate of meeting housing needs per year: - social housing: 11%

- non – social housing: 39%

Another important problem is that we can not persuade by law

a developer to build social housing as a part of newly built housing stock. We have also long and complicated biddings pro- cedures when it comes to selling old buildings and obtaining

money for building new housing stock. ‘‘Social housing’’ C. Definitions used in - municipal house building: social housing as well as used in the ‘social housing interventions and meeting needs of families with low income – context’ built entirely using municipal funds, - social tenement buildings – projects realized by social building societies ( non – profit organizations) with the use of loan from National Housing Fund;

People qualified for social accommodation: 1. People, whose average monthly gross income during 6 months before signing the agreement on assignment social accommodation does not exceed the level of 75% of lowest pension (477 PLN = 146 Euro) in single person family and 50% (318 PLN = 97 Euro) for numerous families. 2. People, who acquired the right to social accommodation after judicial decision. 3. People, who lost their accommodation as a result of natural disaster. 4. People, who are leaving children home as a result of adult- hood, people leaving prisons, homeless people. 4

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‘‘Affordable housing’’ On a level of acceptable standards, meeting the needs of in- habitants. The rent adequate to the standard of living; housing with affordable prices and satisfactory standard. “Receivership”: Management of buildings, where owner or manager declared himself bankrupt or doesn’t ‘exist’ any longer. D. Main target For social housing as mentioned above. For affordable housing population – 1762 people is waiting for accommodation in Siemianowice in 2008. This is our target group – especially 792 from them, who

are waiting for a different type of accommodation than social. Siemianowice met the needs of only 10% of its inhabitants ap- plying for social housing in 2004 – 2007 and 38% applying for affordable housing. The poorest people in Siemianowice still live and settle in areas, where numerous difficulties occur, while the wealthiest move to other parts of the city. Important is also the problem of home- lessness. Ensuring better integration of the youth and elderly people and social integration as a whole is essential for Siemianowice Slaskie. E. Environmental stan- In January 2006 in Poland UE Directive No 2002/91/EC about dards in housing – energetical characteristics of buildings Main issues, came into force. On 1.01. 2009 new construction law will come challenges into force. On the basis of the law buildings should have de- fined: - level of energy in kWh/m2/year, which is necessary to meet the needs of building use - Certificate of Energetical Characteristics Certificate of Energetical Characteristics is a document prepared by an expert, which consists of: - basic data about the use of energy for heating, warm water, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting and appropriate indicators of comparison, - energetical rate of the building - suggestions about possible improvements lowering the use of energy, therefore improving the energetical rank of the building without worsening the air quality of the building Each Certificate of Energetical Characteristics will be valid for 10 years. 5

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II.4. Land tenure context A. Local data Average land market price in Upper Silesia varies from 10,2 – 102 €/m2 depending on area location. In Poland Maxi-

mum land market price is not set by law. Those regulations do not apply for Poland.

B. Main issues, chal- The main assumption of the city’s urban politics is to create land lenges development plan to use development possibilities for the city, resulting from a relative good state of natural environment and post – industrial areas potential, in an efficient and rational manner. Problems and challenges of city’s spatial economy: - few areas, which could be used for investing; - many mining damages and degraded areas, - limited dispersal of housing and business premises – over essential and planned purposes, - adapting post – industrial areas for housing, - adapting new areas for housing, - purchase of areas for municipal housing stock and municipal infrastructure (local development plan), - nature conservation and cultural values important for the city

III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives

A. Developed / Objectives: agreed Aim to reach the state of housing and buildings on the level of stan- dards accepted by inhabitants and resulting from localization of the building in the city. Accept economical efficiency criteria in decisions connected to the way of building management (rent, sale, demolition). The city uses the funds of Provincial Fund of Environmental Protection and Water Balance for thermal modernization of housing. The city adapted 34 social housing flats with financial help of National Economy Bank.

B. In elaboration Siemianowice Slaskie is planning to cooperate with Upper Silesian Fund or planned to build a housing estate of single – family homes. C. Discussed

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III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives Municipal housing stock management (also occupying) is regulated by A. Developed / the statute of occupant laws protection, statute of municipal housing agreed stock, statute about the change of civil code laws and city’s interior resolution. Actions and initiatives: - In 2005 the city on the basis of the statute of financial support of social housing, dosshouses and housing for homeless people building obtained a financial support for the investment (35% of the total cost), what resulted in building 34 social housing flats, - National Fund of Rehabilitation of Handicapped – eliminating architectonical barriers, - active participation in the process of interchanging flats and houses between inhabitants searching for certain type of accommodation - organizing biddings for housings over 80 m2 of area B. In elaboration or planned C. Discussed

III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives Districts’ and Communal Fund of Environmental Protection and Water A. Developed / Balance donates for ecological modernization of heating and liquidation agreed of non efficient devices for coal burning in houses, flats and business premises. Siemianowice Slaskie uses funds from Provincial Fund of Environmental Protection and Water Balance for thermo modernization of housing.

Actions just started or in elaboration: B. In elaboration or planned - creating better conditions for housing building development, including municipal; - adapting degraded post – industrial areas, - thermal isolation of buildings, - improvement of air cleanness by limiting low emission. In 2009 new construction law mentioned in II.3.E will come into force. C. Discussed

III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / • Siemianowice Slaskie drawn up an agreement with MPGKiM PLC for agreed management of buildings and municipal grounds. • In 2006 a study of conditioning and directions in land development was passed to enact. 7

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• In 2007 a Long Term Plan of Housing Stock development was passed to enact. The city has prepared Urban Land Development Plan.

B. In elaboration Modification of Urban Land Development Plan to meet changing needs or planned of inhabitants.

C. Discussed

IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Siemianowice can exchange knowledge and provide the project with its’ land development tools/ land policy regulations. We -social also think that we can share our knowledge in enabling people - environmental to change in type of housing not only from renting to ownership - land but also from lower rent to higher and vice versa. We can also discuss on social benefits and housing benefits issues.

IV.2. Main expectation issue: For Siemianowice it’s hard to chose just one problem we’d like to focus on. However we’d like to focus the most on work areas -social connected to housing and problems with supplying certain in- - environmental habitants with accommodation, problems connected to bad - land technical state of municipal housing stock. Also we’d like to learn about tools enabling public – private partnership in in-

vestments

IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: Siemianowice would like to design a Local Action Plan, which would solve our problems as an area threatened by social exclu- - social sion. To reduce the high concentration of social problems in our - environmental city we intend to focus on renovation and refurbishment of old refers to: housing stock in our city (over 90% of all housing stock), what will enable us to deliver more modern social housing of good whole area quality to for our inhabitants. This, we hope, will reinforce the part social inclusion of disadvantaged people. Our second priority is delivering energy – efficient buildings to inhabitants and mod- district ernizing the existing buildings to reduce pollution of natural en- quarter, neighbourhood vironment (i. e. by reducing low emission). one site, estate 8

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V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group - -

V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group

NET - TOPIC Net-TOPIC is one of the 24 thematic networking projects ap- proved in the first phase of the URBACT II PROGRAMME. The phase 1 project was approved under the priority Axe 2 “Attractive and phase 2 cohesive cities” and related to the theme Governance and Ur- ban Planning. The project is focused on the management and governance methods of the urban transformation processes in intermediate cities, located close to major urban centres and/or in metropolitan areas and on how they are taking into account the public-private partnerships, citizen participation and the adoption of an integrated urban development and regeneration approach. In particular, how a good management of urban transformation in coordination with other actors and entities, integrated into a group of local policies, helps the city to meet its own challenges of greater social cohesion, sustainable ac- tions, greater competitiveness and better quality of life. The lead partner is Spanish city – L’ Hospitalet de Llobregat. Siemianowice is an initial partner. V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) - - V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - Norway, Switzerland - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) -Transnational cooperation areas - other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Pro- gramme ..)

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VI. COMMENTS -

VII. CONTACT Contact person: Michael Pajek Phone / fax: Phone : +48 502 540 128 fax : +48 32 229 56 54 Mail contact: [email protected] Spoken Language(s): Polish, English

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PARTNER PROFILE

URBACT II - SUITE. The Housing Project. Thematic Network Thematic Pole: Social Inclusion and Governance

Partner: THE CITY OF TALLINN

I. PARTNER Details Name of the partner Housing Department of Tallinn organisation: Tallinna Elamumajandusamet Type of organisation: http://www.tallinn.ee/eng -Local authority Housing Department is a structural unit of Tallinn City government (totally 14 departments) - other Member State (OMS/NMS) Estonian Republic (NMS) Eesti Vabariik Region Harju County Harju Maakond Province / federal province / Tallinn Tallinn land - city

Convergence/Competitiveness Convergence region Region Official partner in the network From phase 2 - From phase 1 - From phase 2 I.1. Team involved in the SUITE project department of Housing Housing Department of Tallinn (Tallinna Elamumajandusamet) Social Welfare and Health Care Department of Tallinn (Tallinna department for urbanism / Sotsiaal- ja Tervishoiuamet) urban planning … City Planning Department (Tallinna Linnaplaneerimise Amet) department City Office of Tallinn, City Development Service, Department of EU housing/urbanism Affairs (Tallinna Linnakantselei, Arenguteenistus, Välisprojektide department for EU Affairs rakendamise osakond) other department(s) The Union of Estonian Cooperative Housing Associations (Eesti Korteriteühistute Liit) other institution(s) Association of Estonian Facilities Administrators and Maintainers (Eesti Kinnisvara Hooldajate ja Haldajate Liit) Tallinn University of Technology (Tallinna Tehnika Ülikool) Credit and Export Guarantee Fund (Krediidi ja Ekspordi Garanteerimise Sihtasutus) Estonian Ministry of the Interior (Eesti Siseministeerium)

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Responsible councillor Head of Housing Department I.2. Competences regarding housing Scope of activities, The Housing Department of Tallinn is responsible for: improvement of fields of intervention housing stock quality; development/ regeneration of residential areas in housing matters and municipal residential construction, financial subsidies to stakeholders (apartment and dwelling associations), buying and selling of real estate,

rent issues. The Social Welfare and Health Care Department of Tallinn is responsible for organizing of social services and administration of social welfare institutions. Land policy – the region (i.e. City Government) is responsible for development of local areas, but almost all land issues are coordinated by County Government and the state (e.g. Ministry of Environment), incl. municipalisation of land. Environmental standard is fixed on state level (some detailed points on the local level).

The local authority regulates almost all housing issues (but legal regulations are also state ones). Despite the privatisation was legally initiated and started by the state, the local authority was responsible for its realisation. The Local Authority is also obliged to provide tenants living in de-expropriated houses with municipal apartments. In fact, it divides the social housing into 2 different groups: 1. municipal housing (mostly for tenants from de- expropriated housing, 2. social housing (for tenants with social needs).

II. LOCAL CONTEXT II.1. Area of responsibility City Metropolitan Area 159,2 (km2) Population 402 798 inhab. (01.06.2008) area or Tallinn in figures 2007 http://www.tallinn.ee/g2677s40983 similar Tallinn is capital of Estonia, port city, industrial and commercial centre. other, i.e. http://www.tallinn.ee/eng

http://www.tallinn.ee/g2528s22709 Tallinn is a member of EUROCITIES, INTA, UBC, UCEU (more information http://www.tallinn.ee/g1446s11415 ).

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II.2. Urban context Population (01.06.2008) 402 798 A. Local data Female (01.01.2008) 217 988 age breakdown (01.01.2007) 0-14 53 522 13,5% 15-64 277 624 70,0% 65+ 65 014 16,5% ethnicity (01.01.2007): Estonians 217 938 47,5% Russians 144 764 34,7% Individuals receiving social benefits (01.01.2007) 10 862 Unemployment rate (01.01.2007): 3,4% population growth (from 2006 to 2007) 765 (from 2005 to 2006) 550 1,4%

Households (2000) 173 215 single households 56 899 2-4 members households 108 629 5 and more members households 7 687 Households receiving social benefits (2007): 5 281 Households receiving housing benefits (allowances) (2007): 2 202 Statistical database of Estonia:

http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/dialog/statfile1.asp

B. General General situation in Estonia situation - GDP: 11,4% (2006), 7,1% (2007) - GDP per capita: 9 732 EUR (2006), 11 581 EUR (2007) Foreign direct investments: 9,6 bln EUR to Tallinn (2006), 11,3 bln EUR to Estonia (2007) (Bank of Estonia) - Foreign direct investments per capita per year: 2 716 EUR (2006) in Tallinn, 1354 EUR in Estonia (2007) (Bank of Estonia) - Consumer price index: 6,6% (2007), forecast 9,0% (2008) (Bank of Estonia)

Tallinn City budget: 493 mio. EUR (2008) Imports: 11 318 mio. EUR (2007) Exports: 8 021 mio. EUR (2007) Number of enterprises (01.01.2008): Public sector: state 23, municipal 11. Private sector: Estonian 43 214; foreign 6 843. Tallinn in figures 2007 http://www.tallinn.ee/g2677s40983

http://www.tallinn.ee/g2528s22709 Monthly Survey of Estonian Economy, May 2008

http://web-static.vm.ee/static/failid/272/Economy_May2008.pdf

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II.3. Housing context A. Local housing Stocks and proportions (2007): data Total housing stock – 189 865, public: state-owned 0,2 %, municipal 1,5%, private 97,3%. Home ownership. Housing per 1 person – 25,7 m² Total ‘social housing’ stock is 1,5 % from total stock. Dwelling completion in 2006: 1-family houses 98; 2-family houses 92; terraced houses 62; 1-2-storeyed houses 0; 3-5-storeyed houses 1330; 6-8- storeyed houses 418; 9- and more-storeyed houses 0. New ‘social rooms’ 2002-2008 (constructed by the municipality) - 1262 dwellings, average social housing construction per year - 210 dwellings. Statistical database of Estonia:

http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/dialog/statfile1.asp Costs and prices: - Average squared meter rent price for social housing 1,6 euro/ m² (2008) - average actual construction cost / m² for social housing 830 euro/ m² (2008) - average actual market construction cost / m² for housing 760 – 1025 euro/ m²

B. Main issues, High demand of ‘social/ municipal rooms’, social housing structure, housing challenges costs for social rooms, partnership with financing partners, PPP models, (with a focus on regeneration of housing stock and urban issues. the role of Social/municipal housing is financed only from the city budget, need of new ‘publicly funded financial models. Social/municipal housing is rent-based, need of new housing’) structure of social/municipal housing stock with specifying of housing services for specific groups, adjusting production to specific needs, and need

of tools that enable people to change in type of housing (from renting to ownership). Because of the small number of social/municipal rooms, the environmental aspect is more important for privately funded housing legally regulated by state and municipality (regeneration of housing stock).

C. Definitions Definition of “social housing” is not legally regulated. Definitions of used in the “municipal rooms” and “social rooms” are regulated on the local level, “social ‘social housing rooms” – also on the state level. context’ Social room: 1. social apartment (one-person apartment with bathroom), 2. social room (private sleeping area with communal bathroom), 3. social

housing (building or part of building with social apartments or social rooms).

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Rooms, which do not respond to the “social room” definition, are municipal rooms. Target group for social rooms are persons with mental and physical problems, single elders, low-income persons. In Tallinn (2008) – 3368 municipal rooms, 1009 social rooms. Social/municipal housing stock is rent-based.

D. Main target For municipal housing- enants living in de-expropriated houses, ex-prisoners, population orphans, etc. For ‘social housing’ – persons with mental and physical problems, single

elders, low-income persons.

E. Environmental The definition of “standard” is fixed in the Estonian Technical Normative and standards in Standard Law. The standard consists of technical description or operational housing – guidelines or its results. Despite all building activities and energetic or Main issues, environmental protection are organized by law and according law based challenges norms, the Law has in fact a voluntary character. The supervision functions for fulfilment of Law are not legally regulated.

Estonian standards database

http://www.mkm.ee/index.php?id=2876

II.4. Land tenure context A. Local data 92,7 km² of Tallinn city land is registered in The National Land Registry (2007), which is 58,9% of Tallinn’s territory. Unreformed state-owned land

made up 41% of Tallinn’s territory. 18,3 km² of the registered land is municipal land, which is 11,6% of Tallinn’s territory. 19,8 km² of the registered land is state-owned land, which is 12,5% of Tallinn’s territory. 54,6 km² of the registered land is private property, which is 34,5% of Tallinn’s territory. Tallinn has 40 km² of green areas (parks, forests, etc). - Average land market price / m² for housing 115 - 225 euro /m² (2008), depends on city district - Maximum land market price / m² sold to housing developers for social housing (Euro, year) – no experience - Maximum allowed land price / m² for social housing (Euro, year) not fixed

www.kv.ee B. Main issues, The main problem is the restricted position of the municipality in land issues. challenges Need of new land policy/regulation tools in social housing context, partnership with private sector and financial institutions.

Tallinn City uses land leasehold terms for developing and regeneration of

residential areas.

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III. STATE OF POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION III.1. General housing policies, local actions and initiatives A. Developed / There are a lot different national and local programs/plans confirmed by the agreed state and city governments (problems are mentioned above). Housing issues are regulated locally (municipal residential construction, rent issues,

subsidies for apartment associations, PPP projects, identification of specific needs, specific social housing services for specific groups etc.). Land issues and energy policies are regulated by the state. Also some renovation subsidies for apartment associations are provided by Credit and Export

Guarantee Fund and general social issues are regulated by Ministry of Social Affairs. On the state level: 1. Estonian Housing Development Plan 2008-2013 (confirmed by Estonian Government 17.01.2008) – in Estonian 2. Strategy 2007-2013, Credit and Export Guarantee Fund – in Estonian 3. Operational Programme for the Development of the Living Environment – in English 4. Development plan of the Ministry of Social Affairs 2008-2012 (Sotsiaalministeeriumi arengukava 2008-2012) - in Estonian On the local level (in Estonian):

1. Strategy ” Tallinn 2025” 2. Development programme 2006-2021 3. Tallinn social welfare development programme 2006-2010 and Action plan 2006-2008

B. In elaboration Tallinn Development Programme 2009-2027 or planned C. Discussed III.2. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Social housing issues are regulated on the local level by (in Estonian): agreed Regulations of Housing Commission activity, Rent regulations for social and municipal rooms, Regulations of applying for municipal/ social rooms (target groups and special needs are fixed by these regulations), Regulation of social housing units (social rooms with private sleeping area and communal bathroom and kitchen). Social welfare and health care department is responsible for social subsidies.

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Renovation of housing stock is financed by stakeholders. Some financial models are fixed by Tallinn city and Credit and Export Guarantee Fund.

The city supports the apartment associations by training subsidies and

subsidies for renovation, i.e. reducing of loan interests and best loan terms.

B. In elaboration Housing programme for young families and public servants (confirmed by or planned the City Council in 2008) C. Discussed III.3. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Local construction regulations are master planning, thematic planning, agreed development programs, detailed planning and local building regulations. The Building Law regulates construction activity on the state level. In addition,

there are specific regulations fixed by the state, e.g. requirements for disabled persons to provide an access to public buildings, building expertise regulations, etc. The normative regulating local energetic field includes concepts, development plans, strategies, etc. Energy normative is regulated on the state level by energy efficiency minimum requirements, central heating system regulations, heating gas safety law, etc. The normative regulating local environmental protection includes local action plans, thematic panning and regulation through different permits, e.g. building permits. The state level are fallowed the laws of environmental surveillance, assessment of environmental effects, environmental protection, etc. Problems in different fields are very similar and generally related to performance of regulations and laws. The main reason of these problems is extremely inadequate financial site. B. In elaboration Energy audit and energy marking regulations or planned C. Discussed III.4. Local land policies, actions and initiatives A. Developed / Land issues are regulated on the state level. Unreformed state-owned land agreed: made up 41% of Tallinn’s territory. Problems with land municipalisation (difficult long-term legal procedure, political barriers).

The ownership reform is legally based on the Principles of Ownership Reform

Act, which unfortunately did not create sufficient legal basis for resolving specific situations arising from restitution or compensation of property. The city uses leasehold terms for residential areas in the PPP projects. City Planning department is responsible for master and detailed planning.

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B. In elaboration or planned: C. Discussed:

IV. SUITE PROJECT: CONTRIBUTION and EXPECTATION IV.1. Possible contribution issue: Land Policy/ regulation tools – leasehold terms of land use in residential development, land-environmental-architectural-housing policy balance. -social Partnership with financial institutions – subsidies for renovation of housing - environmental stock (tender for banks for reducing of loan interests and best loan terms). - land Public support for social housing sector- full financing of social housing from the public sector, system of social subsidies.

Identification of specific needs is regulated on the local level. 4-level social housing system: I municipal rooms, II social housing units, III 24h shelters, IV night shelters. In separate position: homes for older people, children homes for orphans, institutions for persons with physical and mental problems. Adjusting production for specific needs – social housing construction provided by local authority. Specific social housing services – provided by municipal institutions . IV.2. Main expectation issue: Optimise a sustainable and affordable supply of housing: economic aspect- to find a decision for state-local authority partnership in land issues and -social field of social housing construction. New financial models for regeneration - environmental of housing stock; environmental aspect – no experience in the field of - land high-quality sustainable homes. First steps have been taken in legal regulations of energy consumption standards in new construction and

promotion of passive house standards. The target is to start with national standards of high environmental quality of housing and neighbourhoods through municipal and state programs and find their legal and executive regulations. Assure social cohesion through social mix and sustainable housing: meet specific needs – to get more experience in identification of specific needs and providing of specific production and social housing services responding to these needs; guarantee social mix – best experience in social mix issues (definition of target groups and priority in allocation policy, supporting measures for tenants inside the social housing structure).

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IV.3. First ideas regarding a Local Action Plan issue: - social

- environmental Extension of social housing structure (more steps according specific needs, re-organizing of children homes system). refers to: Definition of high environmental quality standards of housing, whole area new financial support for regeneration of housing stock taking into account part sustainable energy issues. district quarter, neighbourhood one site, estate

V. URBACT and EU INVOLVEMENT V.1. Participation in an URBACT I network or working group No V.2. Participation in another URBACT II network or working group

No phase 1 phase 2

V.3. Recent participation in other EU funded European projects (ERDF, ESF …) REBECEE REBECEE project (www.rebecee.de ) supported by IEE The first municipal project for use of renewable energy sources in residential construction – Kauge str 4 social housing unit. The heating system of Kauge str 4 includes as alternative energy sources the heating pump for ventilation system and solar collector for warm water. The deadline of construction is April 2009.

V.4. Location in EU member state, eligibility for objectives, funds - EU 27 - CONVERGENCE (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Regions) - EU 15 - CONVERGENCE phasing out (ERDF, ESF) 2007-13 (Reg.) - EU 12 - COHESION FUND 2007-13 (States) - Norway, - COHESION FUND transitional support 2007-13 (States) Switzerland

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- Reg. Competitiveness&empl objective 2007-13 (Regions) - Reg. Competitiveness&empl phasing in 2007-13 (Regions) - CROSS BORDER COOPERATION (ERDF) -Transnational cooperation areas - other programmes (CENTRAL EUROPE, South-East Programme ..)

VI. COMMENTS no

VII. CONTACT Contact person: Contact person: Natalie Neill Phone / fax: Phone / fax: +372 6404514/ +372 6404501 Mail contact: Mail contact: [email protected] Spoken Language(s): Spoken Language(s): Estonian, English, Russian

Hyperlink www.tallinn.ee

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Annex Part B

EUROPEAN UNION

European Regional Development Fund .

Compilation of Matrices filled by partners regarding housing related competences in their administation

SUITE - The Housing Project

MATRIX COMPETENCES in the partner municipalities (conurbantion's organisation) regarding Housing

If the city has the competence, precisise, which kind of contributions it provides, and precisise, which department or other institution is in charge of it (underline, if the mentioned department or institution is taking part to the SUITE team) the city brings financial support This table aims at providing an overview of the distribution of competences regarding housing in Matrices: Concept, content, and compilation Nantes Métropole and Rennes Métropole. the municipality of each partner city (conurbation). Indeed, after the kick-off meeting, we realised For each competence, fill in the case with the the city defines rules Filled by all partners. that the competences of the cities widely differ . This overview will help us to identify different appropriate code : the city defines rules AND brings financial support SUITE .10/2008 If the city does not have the competence, precise which aspects of housing policy that cities can influence, and thus determine what kind of experience authority has it : the city could contribute to the project. R for Region P for Province (level between city and region) S for State (or Federal State)

other other other other other other actors other actors other actors other actors other actors other actors Santiago de Nantes actors actors actors Siemianowic actors Rennes actors Competences city Medway Hamburg Albacete Kraków Iasi Tallinn Newcastle Compostela Métropole e Slaskie Métropole R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S R/P/S

Property The land Urban Strategic The Housing Managment department The Development Planning & Department Department Architecture Department Property Ministry for The define and & Town Municipal Services Urban Municipal Land policy (pre-emptive have the Planning Housing Divisions The Housing Development Urban right, expropriation, leadership R/S R R/S Depatrment, R/S R+S+P Department+ R+P+S department and the Managing reserved sites,…) but Emuvissa The Geodesy Land Issues Environment Office is the Department, Department Hamburg (GMUA) instrument to The Treasury execute. Depatrment S The The housing National Municipal Strategic Ministry for Department department Environmenta Housing Housing, Urban The of Natural + Direction of GMUA l Protection Department+ Planning and The Housing The Housing Development, The State Protection of The State environmental standard R R R Environment S prospective carries out Agency S Social R+S Transport Department department Regional legislates Environment legislates protection and area the State Law Welfare and Department housing Department development Health Care departments Department The housing R./ Restoring Department Strategic department the old city of Public and Housing, Municipal Ministry for quarters Private Land Planning and Housing Urban The Strategy Property Transport definition of the quantified Housing Department+ The Housing The Housing Development, & Administratio Department objectives of R S R stock R+S S+R Social R P Department department Regional Development n; construction/rehabilitation Department Welfare and housing Department Department Health Care departments of Department Investments

housing stock The housing The Social Department Strategic department department Department. of Public and Municipal Housing URVIAL Private Land Housing Division & Regional Property Department+ Your Choice allocation of housing to The Housing The Housing S R housing S R+S Administratio R Social R Homes individuals or groups department Department departments n Welfare and (stand-alone Health Care housing Department allocations company) The housing The Social Department Municipal Strategic Political department Department. of Public and Housing Housing issue, most The Housing Regional URVIAL Private Land Department+ Division of the The Housing Department, definition of specific needs R housing R+S Property S+R Social R+S departments department The Socials departments Housing Administratio Welfare and are Departments stock n Health Care concerned Department Department Ministry for The housing Department Strategic Urban department of Municipal Housing financial aid for The Housing The Housing the State R S+P R Development R Investments; S+R Housing R Division construction Department department legislates and the Economic Department Environment Department housing stock The housing The Social The Socials Ministry of Strategic Regional department department Department Departments, Development, Municipal Housing The Housing The Housing housing The Region financial aid for individuals R P R S P + S for rent. The Housing R+S Public Works S Housing R Division P & S Department department departments, for sale. URVIAL Department and Housing Department JobCentres housing stock The housing Department Strategic department department of Public and Housing The Housing Private Land Division Department: Property Regional Municipal definition of quantified social policy The Housing Administratio R R housing S S? ? R+S Housing R P & S objectives for social mix developed department n; departments Department through Department Urbanism of Investments

housing stock The housing Department Strategic department department of Public and Housing definition of localisation for The Housing Ministry for Private Land Division social mix (in relation with Department: Urban Property Municipal target groups, form of social policy The Housing Development, Administratio R R ?? R+S Housing R tenure, in new developed department Regional n; Department constructions or in existing through housing Department housing stock,…) Urbanism departments of Investments

housing stock The housing Ministry of Strategic department department Development, Housing The Housing Public Works Division Department: The Housing Regional The Social and Municipal social policy The Housing Department, definition of target groups R R housing S S Department. R R+S Housing;Dep R+S Housing R P & S developed department The Socials departments URVIAL artment of Department through Departments Public and Urbanism Private Land Property . SUITE EXAMPLE of a MATRIX for the Collection of EXPECTATIONS and CONTRIBUTIONS .10/2008

(all Matrices have been assembled and used as a basis for further discussion. However, the collective file is to large to be displayed in this annex of the Baseline Study. Thus, a matrix from one city partner should serve as an example).

SUITE - The Housing project Expectations & contributions

Name of contact person who filled the table : Sylviane Vautier City : Rennes Métropole Institution/department : The housing department

For the contributions/ good practices column, more details can be added thanks to the following code :

the city brings financial support the city defines rules

the city defines rules AND brings financial support

contribution expectation s/good relevant themes to s practices/ comments present for on-site (fill in with a expertise visits in your city X) (fill in with X or the land policy (pre-emption and negociation) in order to control the purpose of land, the development of the city and to have the X necessary land for the construction of 4500 housing units per year, and in order to control land policy/regulation tools real estate prices.

Economic new organisation of the building X aspect sector (processes that enable savings ; e.g industrialisation,…)

partnership with financial XX partners contractualisation with developers public support for the social Optimise a housing sector (for XX sustainable individuals/construction) & affordable other supply of 50% of the production has to reach an energy housing definition of energy efficiency consumption at least 10% under the French X (eco-neighbourhood of XX criteria and objectives (quantity standard in effect, through the label "habitat la Courrouze) and quality) and environment" consultation and concertation with residents, with real estate X developers Environment al aspect standardisation of high quality construction methods X (processes that enable energy savings ; e.g standardization…)

partnerships of actors in X building sector Governance other

identification of specific needs Commission Locale de l'Habitat (Local (age, ethnic minorities, X commitee of housing), department for the X disability,…) welcome of travelers adjusting production to specific meet XX specific needs needs specific social housing services Agence Immobilière à Vocation Sociale for specific groups (Social estate agency), ALFADI (Association XX X (associations, specific for housing and families in difficulties), Sociotel agency…) (social hotel) Assure other social cohesion obligation (by contract with the member cities through and developpers) of social mix for every uban social mix & XXdevelopment over 30 housing units : 50% X suitable subsidised housing = 25% social rental housing housing +25% "intermediate" housing land policy/regulation tools guarantee Commission Locale de l'Habitat, temporary priority target groups in X X social mix allocation policy housing , emergency housing accompaniment-supporting Commission Locale de l'Habitat, ALFADI, measures for rehoused X X emergency housing population tools that enable people to change in type of housing (from XX subsidized ownership X renting to ownership) other

Matrix: Concept, content, and compilation Nantes Métropole and Rennes Métropole.

C Synthesis

EUROPEAN UNION European Regional Development Fund

Part C Synthesis C - 1 C.1 Rainbow or clear line? - The broad variety of housing situation and policy C - 1 C.1.1 On the starting blocks C - 1 C.1.2 Demographic challenge and changing life careers C - 3 C.1.3 The poverty trap - financial viability and affordability C - 3 C.1.4 Environment and energy costs C - 4 C.2 Motivation and drivers of change - the main interests of the partners C - 4 C.21 The scope of action for the cities C - 5 C.2.2 Programmes and policies – towards implementation C - 5 C.3 A matter of give-and-take questions versus good practice outlook towards an ambitious exchange C - 6 C.3.1 Social sustainability C - 7 C.3.2 Economic sustainability C - 8 C.3.2 High environmental quality C - 8 C.4 The triangular challenge (Social) Housing – financially, socially and environmentally sustainable? C - 9 C.5 ‘Grounded’ - how to arrive at tangible results C -10

Annex - Excursus on approaches to affordability Graph: Planning a common methodology (working groups)

Imprint

EUROPEAN UNION

European Regional Development Fund

C. Synthesis Emails, attachments, desk research, site visits, pictures, presentations, group discussions, with or without translator, phone calls, flipcharts, flights, trains, cars, Pole meetings, instructions, reading and writing for six months - to formulate a concise synthesis, which brings the whole picture to the point, is quite a challenge. Inevitably, it remains superficial and rudimentary, but it has led to a basis for a joint application, which might meet the requirements. My sincere thanks indeed to all who have contributed, maybe around fifty committed people from all over Europe C.1 Rainbow or clear line? - The broad variety of housing situation and policy C.1.1 On the starting blocks It would not be Europe if not housing did not also demonstrate a multicoloured rainbow of situation and solutions, precisely housing, because in reality it is so strongly ‘bound to the ground’ and has for so long been guarded jealously as a national competence. It is no different among the ten partners of this network (cities and conurbations) who only provide a comparable pattern to a limited extent, even if they are from the same country. The idea to demonstrate this variety by including two different cities from a country (as we did for France, UK and Poland) was the right approach. Local and regional conditions are striking for the conditions of housing people in a decent and affordable way, especially those on low income. It is thus all the more surprising that very soon the common discussion and the method of a step by step concretion of the selection of main issues to be worked on showed a clear line of common challenges and expectations. Of course, the relative importance varies, as do the dimension and urgency, but obviously the role of a satisfactory housing situation and the role of a common European background (development in economy, employment and income, in demography, lifestyle and migration) has such a decisive impact on city level that the network was able to define a common set of issues. This clearly demonstrates that housing is a ‘European issue’ and is an important factor in social inclusion. The network brings together a broad variety of cities or conurbations. However, this is of course an integral quality of URBACT networks, and should be seen as a specific quality which positively influences the exchange of ideas and experiences and common learning. Apart from the varying dimensions of the cities (from about 70,000 to 1.7 million inhabitants, on average 200,000 to 500,000; areas on average 250 km2), which of course have a decisive impact on the dimension of the housing problem, we also gather shrinking or stagnating cities as well as growing cities, with mostly moderate, but some stronger prospects. Thus, the pressure on the housing market will develop quite differently.

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EUROPEAN UNION

European Regional Development Fund

However, the most important differences lie in the scope of influence of the public body on housing stock and new construction for the provision of people on low income. In our network there are cities with quite different patterns of tenure. There are those with an outstanding proportion of condominium or home ownership, also in the stock accessible for people on lower income (e.g. in the Medway conurbation). Also publicly funded new construction almost exclusively concentrates on these forms of tenure. Some are much more mixed (French and German cities, but also Newcastle, UK). Furthermore, it is also relevant that currently both countries are struggling with a big crisis on the housing market, in the real estate field. There are already growing influences of this situation on the whole European economy (but finally, as we have now learned from the end of September 08, the impact of the sub-prime bubble and crisis – also a ‘housing story’ - tops them all in its incredible enormity). A special situation exists in the partner cities from New Member States, depending on the national housing policy chosen after transition. Cities with almost no municipal housing stock (after selling or giving away mainly the post WW II former communist social housing stock to sitting tenants) such as Iasi, Romanian Moldavia, or Tallinn, Estonia, meet cities with a relevant public rental stock (e.g. Siemianowice near Katowice, including a ‘heritage’ of former enterprise housing, Poland). Problems regarding the maintenance and the refurbishment of this stock are apparent. Also, it is common to all these cities that they are heavily burdened by the obligation to house people evicted from ‘restituted’ (given back to former private landlords) housing. Other cities in the network show a more balanced mix of ownership and tenancy. In these cities, there is broader scope for manoeuvring in times of increased need for affordable housing. (Some examples: Hamburg, Nantes Métropole, Rennes Métropole).) We find wide variations of landlords (the municipality itself, special bodies or housing associations owned by the city, no or limited profit or private housing associations, cooperatives or private landlords in arrangements with municipalities). New construction partly shows new arrangements, mostly in public private partnership. This interferes with a broad scope of accessibility for different groups, mostly oriented to income level and to specific needs. To know more about the different meanings of terms such as `social housing’ to ‘very social housing’, municipal or council housing, publicly funded, subsidised housing, targeted housing etc. etc., see part A State of the Art, of this Baseline Study. One of the first steps in phase 2 will be to develop some sort of matrix overview of these variations, based on the information already collected. Without such a tool to help mutual understanding, it would be difficult to proceed. Phase 1 discussions already showed the broad scope for misunderstanding. Part A ‘State of the Art’ also describes the broad variety of tools used by public bodies for social housing policy. This ranges from supply side support (land provision, subsidies for regeneration and new construction) to demand side support (housing allowances to tenants, favourable loans to purchasers, standing surety etc.). The

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European Regional Development Fund

strategic basis of such tools is a variety of positions towards the role of social housing (see A.1 and A.2 ‘State of the Art’: policy - ‘targeted’ versus ‘broad’.) It would be fine to be able to show a typical city or several cities from our network for each of these cases and models. However, the puzzle is too diverse to do so. And however, it is fascinating to see that despite this variety of 'background', a clear tendency in focusing on a couple of key issues became visible. For more regarding housing policy and programmes, please see C.2.3 Programmes and policies – towards implementation. C.1.2 Demographic challenge and changing life careers Fertility, mortality and net migration are the three main pillars on which the structure of housing demand is based. Thus, looking at demographic data and prognoses is always the first step towards approaching an integrated view. Again, our comparison of the current situation evinces relevant differences between the partners. Whilst the more general demographic development towards an ageing society and with societal changes in the lifecycles of households (less stability, smaller households …) are common for European cities, the proportions of age groups and household types are still quite different. In the proportion of people aged 60plus there is a difference of 1: 1,5 (some cities in New Member States still have a ‘younger’ population, the maximum, in OMS, is more than 20% of 60plus). The increase of single households, which has a significant impact on housing demand, varies from 10 to 15% (e.g. Iasi, Tallinn, NMS) up to 50%, 60% (Hamburg, Krakow), average: around a third. Many of them are aged people. Also, needs of single parents, the overwhelming majority women, is well know in all partner cities. There are differences between a higher demand, but of smaller dwellings, and, in other cities, a special demand for dwelling for larger families. C.1.3 The poverty trap -financial viability and affordability All our partner cities stress a high need of provision of affordable housing, not only since the price increase of this year, but already before (see the discussion in part A 2.1 and A.2.3). Of course, their starting points, the ‘level of affordability’ differs considerably, especially if the proportion of public subsidies is taken into account. The partner profiles in Part B provide definitions of ‘affordable housing’ from all partners. The variations in the role of tenancy and home ownership, as well as the diverging proportions of housing stock per building period (which refers to the housing cost level) makes it quite difficult to compare. A thematic working group within the network will concentrate on economic questions starting from a more in-depth discussion on the scope of backgrounds regarding ‘affordability’ (more see C.3.2). The partners confirmed that also in their housing stock residents are especially affected by an increase of running costs. The principal positions towards public funding, but also the scope of action for cities will be relevant for the definition and for the selection of ‘good practice’.

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European Regional Development Fund

There is a range of specific groups, whose urgent specific needs are formulated. Apart from older people or single parents, for some cities, housing migrants or ethnic minorities is a prominent task. This concerns both newcomers and groups living in very often un-decent housing for a long period. However, the proportion of these groups among the population vary considerably, from almost no migrants (cities in NMS) to nearly 15% (Hamburg), a special case is Tallinn with about one third Russians. The group the most difficult to house seem to be Roma, travelling or resident, but just for some of the partners (Nantes M., Rennes M., Iasi, …) and the Homeless. C.1.4 Environment and energy costs In the countries involved, national regulations on the protection of the environment and on energy saving are in use, complying with EU regulations and Kyoto objectives. However, mainly in NMS there are complaints from cities, that often the implementation of this kind of regulations is not back lined by sufficient financial means, and that there is a lack of regulated supervision of these regulations. National programmes for high quality and energy efficiency in housing are common, but partly remain on a voluntary or general level. In some countries, broad and elaborated concepts are existing, and there are links to the (local) Agenda 21. Cities in our network prove to be ambitious in topping national standards. Some of them include those objectives in the Local Housing Plan (also for ‘social’ respectively ‘affordable housing`). Standards refer to new construction, in rehabilitation such standards do not seem to be compulsory. However, some cities can show aspiring programmes on ecologically sustainable refurbishment, together with funding programmes. Again, there are differences in funding schemes for the social and the private sector. All partners define the linkage of high environmental standard and affordability as a very big challenge. C.2 Motivation and drivers of change - the main interests of the partners By the help of a complex process of collecting individual formulation from the partners and a common discussion, we arrived on a common ‘set of interests’, which would form the content of our exchange. Tenor of all interests is how to meet future increasing challenges of fighting both poverty and climate change. The most recent reactions on the financial crisis – to question the objectives of the climate package on carbon-reduction targets – show the relevance of this question. Thus, three main groups of questions were defined, social, economic and environmental, and three according working groups were installed, who drafted more precise sub-themes for the common learning. Taking into account the broad variety of situation and focus, a dominant challenge will be to work on the transferability issue in a structured way. Of course, this serves only as a guideline. There is also a rationale at the respective local levels. And it can of course happen that one or the other partners will only

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discover that new questions are relevant for them after all during the course of the exchange. This is also part of the nature of common learning. Hence, we will revise our chosen questions at regular intervals. C.2.1 The scope of action for the cities The member of the network agreed that sufficient competencies and financial capability on the local level are key for coping with the main challenges. The framework for housing policy for the members of our network shows almost all of the current systems and tendencies. Many of them are embedded in strong national frameworks, with small scope for action at city level (all but the one in Germany). Within this group, there are differences regarding the position of their region - e.g. Santiago de Compostela in the Autonomous Region of Galicia, which, however, leaves housing competencies mainly to the City), or regarding their own local level of competence (competencies on an agglomeration level also regarding housing in both French ‘Métropoles’ – Nantes and Rennes and on the level of the conurbation for Medway Council, UK (south-east of London). In federal systems, there is mainly a distribution of dedicated means from the national government to the federal states, who are given high competence in designing federal housing policy, including funding for new construction and for regeneration. On the other hand, there is a broad development to shift more and more duties to the local level, but very often without an adequate financial support. Who is responsible for the local housing policy? As a basis for understanding, the network created a matrix showing the various local distributions of competence in the organisations of the partners (municipalities or similar). Furthermore, they describe the competencies in the Partner Profile and prepared team list for the LE visit. (see part B and its annexes.) A review shows a dominance of competence (and participation) of housing departments, with a smooth transition to urban policies and land policies. Partly social departments are closely involved. C.2.2 Programmes and policies – towards implementation The partner cities base their current policy on ‘Local Plans on Housing’ or ‘Housing Strategies’, concerted with Local Urban Development Plans. Very often, there is a sub-division among plans on new construction (defining targets) and on regeneration plans. Of course, the scope of action is closely related to the size of the stock of social housing. Any influence on the private market depends on the current market situation and on incentives. Links to labour market plans and social plans are integrated to a different extent. Generally, those plans are very different regarding their regulatory force, depending on country and local situation. Specific local housing policies, actions and initiatives (already developed or planned) partly focus on groups (young families and public servants, Tallinn, Iasi, residents from ‘de-expropriated stock’, Polish cities, Travellers (Nantes Métropole and

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Rennes Métropole) or on sectors (regeneration of disadvantaged quarters, e.g. Hamburg, renovation financed by stakeholders, Tallinn), to list some. Specific housing policies regarding local environmental standards show promotion of high environmental quality construction, eco-neighbourhoods or funding programs for ecological buildings (Nantes Métropole, Rennes Métropole, Hamburg …) ; high standard regeneration (Newcastle …) or Environment audits (Tallinn). Land policies, actions and initiatives list development schemes for real estate action of the city, local land plans, regulations on a fixed percentage of social housing per housing development. Those types of land policies are closely linked with our focus, but will not form a special focus of the project. Some cities / conurbations inform about projects forming part of much bigger development plans (e.g. Medway Council as part of the Thames Gateway Development Plan). As far as we see already, some Local Action Plans for this URBACT project will link closely to some of those existing plans, even integrating an overwork of existing programmes. C.3 A matter of give-and-take questions versus good practice outlook towards an ambitious exchange A good balance between expectations of the partners and the contributions they propose is key for a fruitful exchange. And, the Local Action Plans should closely refer to this framework. Thus, we not only collected statements on this from a very early stage, in the basic questionnaire, but also in the final ‘partner profile’ and, in preparation, in the matrix ‘expectations / contributions’ (see part B of the study). This provided the network with a basis for the draft of more detailed issues to be addressed and for the work programme. ‘Contributions’, i.e. information on promising policies and programmes, shall be provided in a structured way, using an adequate method, to be assessed as possible ‘examples of good practice’. One important task, from our point of view, will be the definition of criteria for the selection of ‘good practice’. Models for criteria in comparable fields use main groups such as ‘efficiency, effectiveness, relevance’, but have to be adapted in detail to our specific issue. However, as we also know that an example of good practice will almost never be transferable as a whole (national conditions are too different; also local provision has reached a relevant standard, mostly not starting from point zero) transferability criteria will be defined and transferability lessons discussed. It could be that there are no sufficiently good examples in our cities, in this case we will look for innovative programmes and examples in other European cities, with the help of our links to several European level organisations and links provided by partners. It would not make sense to promote a good medium mainstream standard as a model, we will look for the most innovative examples, which, on the other hand, would have already proven to be sustainable. The partners will understand how to deal with these C-6

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kinds of possible disappointments and how to benefit from their transition from contributors to learners. To remind you: we have identified three main issues in housing, especially social housing, which are at the centre of our interest – a ‘social’, an ‘economic’ and an ‘environmental’ one. A view of our long list of possible contributions shows that there are both expectations and contributions regarding all of them. In a nutshell, there is a good balance among partner expectations and issues. And there are numerous propositions for contributions, mostly for the social and the economic focus (partly integrating both). However, there are few proposed contributions for the ‘environmental issue’. Thus, there will be a need to integrate knowledge from a broader field than the network, on a European level, as mentioned above. For structuring the future exchange on these three main issues, the partners, together with the LE, developed a method based on thematic working groups, which is explained in detail in the application. The need of a synthesis and the related method, plus the feedback process with the Local Action Plan level is discussed in C.4. and C.5). C.3.1 Social sustainability The importance of creating social sustainability in housing has been explained earlier in this study. Thus, the network was unanimous from the beginning that one of the key objectives should be to ‘make decisive steps forward in developing higher levels of sustainable housing provision, considering the social perspective’. A good social mix was identified as one main tool to reach this objective. But the ‘social mix’ discussion is still ongoing on a broad researchers’ (mostly in social sciences), policy makers’ and practitioners’ level, starting with the question of the definition of ‘good social mix’ and its qualitative and quantitative composition, leading to discussions on steering instruments (soft, by statism, market oriented etc.). (See also part A.2.3) Regarding expectations among the partners and the focus of the related future thematic working group, ‘social mix’ seems to be seen as an underlying paradigm for further developing housing provision and urban space. The working group also defined a need to bring together the implementation of ‘housing rights’ (see A.1.2) and a good social balance of neighbourhood as one central question. The provision of tailored offers to specific groups of users/residents, meeting their special needs, seems to be another tool to succeed in social sustainability. Enhancing living conditions for people with specific needs, taking into account the growing diversity of users, is the underlaying objective. However, it must be stressed that this provision should not conflict with the idea of mixity, by creating monostructures for separated groups. The respective working group wants to work on a ‘conciliation of these principles’. This question found a very broad interest among the partners. As this interest refers to a broad variety of target groups (by age, by type of household, by ethnicity (e.g. Roma), by dis/ability etc.), which the various partners refer to, it is more the underlying common structures of policies and programmes that should be discussed in the project than detailed offers for specific groups.

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Participation (and maybe also empowerment) are further tools, which currently spark interest among the partners. Firstly, to contribute better knowledge on needs, but also, secondly, to enhance the sustainability of measures by advancing the ties to local action and to the neighbourhood. Especially, including residents in the development of processes introducing environmental standards seems to be a focus (but this leads to the next chapter). The scope of standard and ‘culture’ of participation and empowerment seems to be quite broad among the partners. C.3.2 Economic sustainability Facing a ‘crisis of affordability’ in the participating countries and cities, both regarding rents, costs of purchase and running costs on the part of the users - and prices in the construction sector, prices of land, of energy, bank conditions and more on the part of the provider, this issue finds the broadest interest among the partners of the network (the current threat of recession culminates this focus). Again, financing tools and programmes are central, plus an appropriate subsidy policy. Different funding schemes and their impact should be compared (see also A.1.1 and A.2.1). This also leads to the inclusion of a broad range of actors, coop- eration or partnership with the private sector and participation of people affected or their representatives. C.3.3 High environmental quality The ambitious objective to forge a close link between housing and environmental sustainability is strongly supported by the network partners. They acknowledge their responsibility as public bodies in both directions, on the one hand, to provide a liveable and healthy environment to their inhabitants, and on the other hand, to respond to the common obligation to tackle the consequences of the climate change, and to lower the emission of greenhouse gases, following the Kyoto protocol. (See the discussion of the issue in part A.3.) They are keen to discuss better programming, funding, planning and managing in the housing field to meet these needs. Another thematic work group will focus on this exchange during the project and will start with developing a more in-depth structure of issues to be discussed. Of course, the exchange has to be restricted to a bundle of quite precise questions to work on. The first procedures for limiting the scope (matrix, common discussion, partner profile, brought several topics to the fore. Inclusion of a broad range of actors is again supposed to be a good tool. Thus, the proposed more detailed issues address different groups. On the one hand, how to promote interaction and good governance of local authorities, private sector organisations such as science, architects, the building industry, housing managers and the market etc., which should lead to a high standard of environmental quality? On the other hand, how to address potential users and residents (awareness raising, demand, daily life, participation…)?

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Generally, in the discussion on the environmental aspects, affordability should always be kept in the back of our minds. Some of the participating cities already support innovative measures and succeed in lowering costs by ‘building up a market’, underpinned by EU and national regulations (as examples: Hamburg, Nantes Métropole). They will provide examples for the discussion. And via the various European thematic associations involved in the SUITE network, we will also be able to integrate broader up-to-date information on innovative practice. Thus, discussing priorities for public investment and funding as well as alternative models will be another more detailed issue to discuss in this thematic work group. C.4 The triangular challenge (Social) Housing – financially, socially and environmentally sustainable? Pole position in the list of interests is taken by ‘affordability of housing’. However, current access and ideas on how to reach the objective of ‘affordability’ diverge to quite an extent. Thus, the network partners revised approaches together with the LE, and defined the basic objective: to bring together those three strands of sustainability. As it would go beyond the framework of this synthesis, a discussion on the problems of an inadequate connection of those three strands and the danger of segmented housing markets has been added in an annex to this part C, an ‘excursus on approaches’. As already noted before, the concept consists of gathering various contributions on this main issue of the project on the basis of the suggested contributions from network partners (programme, model projects, feedback from participation in other EU projects such as CONCERTO, REBECEE see A.3.1) supplemented by research throughout Europe. To achieve this objective, the most important and challenging part of the common exchange will be to form a synthesis group (selected from the more specialised thematic working groups), which leads a common discussion integrating the findings from the special fields and prepares an overarching final synthesis meeting. The following examination will lead to final conclusions and recommendations. In a nutshell again: The common objective of this Thematic Network (composed of Cities, conurbations and institutions) is to make decisive steps forward in developing higher levels of sus- tainable housing provision, in the respective local context, considering both the social and environmental perspectives. Combining both perspective the network aims at the improvement of the steering ability of local authorities within a urban policy field characterized by a dynamic development in terms of economical, social, ecological and demographic challenges. This higher level of policy would be based on a broad involvement of different local actors, using open methods of cooperation/participation and a substantial responsive- ness for needs of different social groups.

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The methods chosen to deal with all expectations and contributions on partner level, plus the feedback process with the Local Action Plan level (see below C.5), are based on a triangle of thematic work (coordinated by thematic working groups, integrat- ing thematic meetings and a local-international process of mutual enrichment), culmi- nating at a synergy level on top of the pyramid. A preparatory group among the partners (from France) provided a more detailed draft and a complementary graph of the working groups as a preparation for the synthesis (see Annex of this Part C). The details of the work programme are described in the application. C.5 ‘Grounded’ - how to arrive at tangible results Mutual exchange and learning remains superficial and the final papers end up in the bottom drawer if there is no process of linking learning to local level and to implementation. This is also the motivation of the URBACT II programme – to introduce the tool of Local Action Plans (LAPs), which we highly appreciate. The idea is to create a strong link between LAPs and the Operational Programmes of the respective country or region, to prepare possible funding of plans, parts of plans, or pilot projects deriving from those plans within the ERDF. This may work well for many networks and their issues, but is especially complicated in the case of housing related issues. The background for European funding for housing related research and action is explained in more detail in several chapters of part A State of the Art of this Baseline Study (A.1.2 , A.1.3, A.2.2). In short: usually, until now, housing has mainly been seen as a national responsibility, and funding for housing related issues only possible if well related to the social inclusion objective and social services, or to quarter / neighbourhood action. However, there is an ongoing process to promote the acceptance of housing as a decisive tool for inclusion, cohesion and growth. Thus, it is a success that for the first time the ERDF Programme 2007 to 2013 provides the opportunity to include housing related funding for New Member States (see A.1.3). For the Old Member States, there are some projects funded by ESF, but no success yet for projects including housing issues in a wider sense within ERDF. Therefore, the attempts of our New Member States network partners and their Local Support Groups to develop Local Action Plans, potentially leading to ERDF funding after the lifetime of this URBACT II phase, will certainly have model character for further funding and will be very important for the field. In Phase I, the partners of the network learnt about the respective OP s by a common and individual search (internet, lists) and built contacts with MA. These partly proved to be complicated, but finally most were successful. There are chances for our two Polish partners (related to the running Silesian Operational Programme and the OP ‘Lesser Poland’ for the Krakow Region), key words: revitalising degraded areas, including those with residential developments, broadening the range and volume of metropolitan services offered. C-10

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There are still better chances, we suppose, for our Romanian partner (special favoured access as recently selected ‘National Growth Pole’, currently including the housing aspect in its programme) within the Romanian Regional OP, priority Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles, and the OP ‘environment’ ‘ key word: reduction of pollution by new heating systems). Also our Estonian partner might be able to connect to the OP ‘Development of the Living Environment’, key words: reduction of problems in cities (priority 4), energy saving – also in the housing sector (priority 3). For the six partners from OMS, the situation is more complicated. For the moment, only national funding seems to be accessible for the partners. However, given the political will, some links may be possible to create (e.g. UK OP North East of England, or within the Thames Gateway OP; OP Galicia, key words: social and economic regeneration in towns / urban development), maybe also in trans-border or trans- national projects, to prepare ‘the first ERDF funded OMS project on housing’. We will challenge this, despite the fact that the bar is set very high. Anyway, with or without European funding, we all agree to create local action plans, which are realistic, relevant in the short-term, and strongly supported by broad levels, especially policy level. The scope of the LAPs in place until now fits well into our choice of key issues and reaches from joining already foreseen action (Local Housing Plans, Housing Regeneration Plan for a quarter, Integrated Urban Development Plan) to more specific Housing Programmes focussing more strongly on social issues or on environmental issues or programmes for specific disadvantaged groups. All integrate the tri-fold objective in the one or other direction. The backbone of the creation of LAPs will be committed ULSG (URBACT Local Support Groups). Based on first ideas on the key issues of their LAP, the partners worked in phase I on the composition of the groups (including preparatory lists and meetings with the LE, who visited all partners) and the animation for participation. The analysis of the planned or already involved members (by mapping all collected information) shows a broad range of stakeholders. The main groups: extended municipality group plus similar institutions, the field of construction and management, residents’ representatives and science. Housing departments have the lead, the great majority closely cooperating with urban, European Affairs and social dpts, plus various others. Half of the ULSG include municipalities’ external bodies as funds etc. and various Housing Associations (partly also their regional roof organisations). Some inclusion of the private sector or the technical field Research is included via three universities and two research institutes. And there are some contacts already made with tenants organisation, but this should be extended in phase II. Of course, the MA will participate. Overall, an adequate and broad picture already, from the public to the private and user field. For elaborating good LAPs, It will be important to install a straight work plan and timetable of input, feedback and assessment in two-way communication.)

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European Regional Development Fund Working Groups as a preparation for a Synthesis Draft : Sub-group for the preparation phase II Nantes Métropole and Rennes Métropole 10 2008 Planning a common methodology to organize exchange and learning activities

Working group 1 Working group 2 Working group 3 Qualitative social High environmental Developing socially housing and social quality housing for and environmentally mix larger population and qualitative housing for reasonable price with restricted public budget

Methodology to implement (example for 1 working group)

Catalogue of good SUITE Baseline study Æ Base for Selected Thematic Thematic meeting Thematic report: Synthesis practices communica factsheet -on-site visit -exemplary practices Matrixes Æ exchange key issues meeting and tion Information from Æ activities for each - workshop -recommendations recommend brochure -steering Committee Cities city ations

On-site Case factsheet studies Final by host Conference city

Contribution from ULSG Contribution for LAP

Development of mutual understanding Implementation of a fruitful exchange Capitalisation and promotion of results by exchange of information and learning phase

ANNEX - Excursus on approaches to affordability (see C.4 The triangual challenge): Various approaches have been chosen, both in the social housing stock and in new construction of social housing, depending on local and national framework conditions in the participating cities. (To keep to a concise description, exposure to the private stock and the new construction market shall not be dealt with here, despite its often decisive importance for the market as a whole). Allocation of low cost housing stock, which is accessible for municipalities, to people with low income or living on social benefit might bring short-term relief. However, in the mid to long term, in this stock too rent or ownership overburdens the people affected because this stock is only affordable as long as the often urgent refurbishment measures are not taken. However, if this isn’t done unacceptable housing conditions are hardened which, through the concentration of disadvantaged households, cumulatively lead to ghettoisation with all its known precarious consequences. In particular, the high proportion of running costs as a result of the current rises in energy costs overburdens the most disadvantaged (key word: ‘fuel poverty’. See also A.3.3) Regeneration of the old housing stock relieves the demand pressure on new construction. However, the costs have to be supported by public funding, either ‘object-related’ by direct construction related funding for regeneration or ‘subject-related’ by housing allowances or similar subsidies. Missing to achieve future-oriented quality in new construction for low wage earner would lead to early cycles of refurbishment. Furthermore a good mix can only be created with a com- parable standard. Otherwise, this aggravates tendencies to segment the market via concentra- tion on high environmental standard only in new construction, with related higher prices. We broadly disagree with the approach repeatedly seen, particularly at times when funds are short, of providing simple housing for those who can least afford it and avoiding more costly renovation. This approach can also often be dressed up with the label 'targeted'. In the first place this should be rejected on ethical grounds and secondly it conceals not inconsiderable risks: it is precisely those who can least afford it who are burdened with high running costs (due to inadequate environmental quality in new construction or renovation or the avoidance of renovation) which often are much higher than the rent itself. In the second place, failure to improve environmental quality (heating, thermic insulation etc.) is indefensible for overall social and environmental reasons (Kyoto Protocol). Thirdly owners (city authorities, housing associations, individual landlords) thus create the burdens of tomorrow, which is extremely short-sighted. However, because environmentally-friendly and forward looking measures require higher initial investments with amortisation periods which cannot always be forecast, as well as the acceptance and cooperation of the users, the great challenge here is the development of financing models and cost-cutting programmes. However, this finds great support in the partner cities, both on leading administrative levels (heads of departments) as well as on policy level (councillors, mayors etc.). Here it should be clarified how much cities and conurbations can initiate under their own steam and where they need support from higher levels.

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Imprint

Editor:

Concelllo de Santiago de Compostela Praza do Obradoiro, s/n 15705 Santiago de Compostela Spain. Lead Partner SUITE

Concept, content, and compilation:

DI Heidrun Feigelfeld SRZ Stadt+Regionalforschung GmbH SRZ urban+regional research ltd. [email protected] Lead Thematic Expert SUITE

Language control (parts): Steve Gander, Vienna, Austria

Layout Assistance: Juergen Hajek, Viena, Austria.

Pictures: Heidrun Feigelfeld

Part B Partner Profiles; Iasi, Romania; Krakow, Poland; Hamburg, Germany; Medway Council, UK; Nantes Métropole , France ; Newcastle upon Tyne, UK ; Rennes Métropole, France ; Tallinn, Estonia; Santiago de Compostela, Spain (LP); Siemianowice Slaskie, Poland (finally not integrated: Albacete, Spain.)

Map ‘partnership’ (part B): Nantes Métropole and Rennes Métropole.

Matrices (annex part B): Concept, content, and compilation Nantes Métropole and Rennes Métropole. Filled by all partners.

Graph (annex part C): Concept, content, and layout Nantes Métropole and Rennes Métropole based on the discussion of the work meeting 09/08.

For URBACT II European Programme for Urban Sustainable Development.

Vienna / Santiago de Compostela 2008

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