Rebuilding Ukraine for its people with tried and tested methods in mind
Call for "an equitable reconstruction based on good European examples" by the EIB
the Hague, the Netherlands, 15 March 2023 | Published in Social, Future of the EU & Housing
On February 15, local housing experts from Ukraine, Housing Europe, #Housing2030's lead writer, the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA), Vienna City, EIB, and UN's agency tackling migration, as well as the European Commission directorate for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations met in the Hague to discuss how the rebuilding of Ukraine should happen together with and for its people.
Our Secretary General, Sorcha Edwards said that the social housing network we represent can support with technical assistance, examples, national and regional meetings, as well as organic approaches that are not top-down. "More than 43,000 public, cooperative, and social housing providers are pushing forward on energy efficiency, providing homes for industry workers, converting properties to cater for students or migrants. Europe is the only continent with such a rich social fabric and we can share what we have learnt," she added.
Grzegorz Gajda, Senior Urban Investment Specialist at the European Investment Bank further said that the "social housing magic" is that the sector offers good quality affordable homes. To rebuild Ukraine, he would expect an equitable reconstruction based on good European examples that are efficient and transparent.
The key components for the rebuilding of Ukraine according to Julie Lawson, the lead writer of the #Housing2030 report by Housing Europe and the United Nations, are to ensure strong collaboration with regional and national-level experts, to be guided by the SDGs, adhere to EU Green Deal's ambition, be informed by #Housing2030, inspired by the New European Bauhaus and use funds from the Ukrainian plan for recovery and state investment banks.
You can find the recording of the event here.