Social housing in Europe

Social housing has been an important part in Europe’s housing provision for many decades both in terms of investment in new build and regeneration but also in providing adequate affordable housing for a wide range of European citizens. This role has been seen to be under threat especially since the 1980s as public expenditure pressures have grown, liberalisation and privatisation have become more important and alternative tenures have become more readily available.1 This paper draws out some of the most important trends in the scale of social housing in countries across Europe; clarifies who lives in the sector and under what terms and conditions, and then discusses some of the drivers behind these trends and implications for the future provision of social housing.2 In particular it addresses the extent to which social housing contributes to ensuring that households can access adequate standard accommodation at a price they can afford in different contexts within the European Union. It also looks to the challenges faced by the sector and its role in the future

Editorial: Radical housing (dis)encounters: Reframing housing research and praxis

We came to this issue before the outbreak of Covid-19, and we release it amidst what feels like an entirely new, and yet also entirely known world-order—a place of multiple and multiplying crises that existed before the pandemic and continue, relentlessly, to render certain people, bodies and homes disposable. It is against this cruelty, but also with a renewed sense of radical hope in justice everywhere, that RHJ first came to be. The majority of contributions to Issue 2.2 emerge from a long process of designing and selecting participants for the event Radical Housing Encounters: translocal conversations on knowledge and praxis. This event was meant to take place in person, in three separate locations simultaneously, at the end of May 2020. Through it, we sought to define and re-define radical housing knowledge and practice, paying particular attention to diverse methodological, theoretical and ethical approaches deployed in both research and militant practice around the globe. While disappointed that the event could not take place as originally planned, its rationale and ethics of care are central to the making of this issue and are reflected in the texts of its contributors as well as the process of organising the issue

Co-housing: Shared Futures

It is widely recognised that the UK housing market is dysfunctional. The problems are not limited to affordability and the mismatch between supply and demand. Equally important are the kinds of new housing produced by the speculative volume building model, and the communities and neighbourhoods that result. In the real world, the quantity, quality, location, density and price of housing are intimately bound up with how people live and relate to their neighbours and the resources that their homes consume. Cohousing could play a key role in solving the crisis. Cohousing usually includes private individual or family homes, which may be owned or rented, clustered around spaces and facilities that are collectively used. Food is often a focus, with community food production and/or a common house for shared meals. The communities generally have non-hierarchical structures and decision-making processes, and are usually designed, planned and managed by the residents

The impact of three London conservatoires on the UK and London economies: a project for the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal College of Music, with Universities UK

This report asks how three of London’s conservatoires – the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal College of Music – contribute to the London and UK economies. The research used statistical and interview evidence to determine the costs of education at these institutions and to estimate the benefits that flow from their presence in London and the activities of their graduates