Our member in France, the Social Union for Housing (USH), the Banque des Territoires (Caisse des Dépôts group), the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank have established a key partnership that will lay down a foundation for social housing organisations in France to access European funding for long-term investments in affordable homes.

As elDiario mentions, we have assumed housing as one more commodity and we use the city as a commercial object for consumption and tourism, privatizing urban spaces and allowing 700,000 people in Europe to sleep on the street every night!

Benoit Wanzoul sat in the driving seat of Wallonie Logement (SWL) in a very particular moment – in the middle of a world pandemic and in a period when Belgium had one single mission – to cope with COVID-19. Add to this that recently, Belgium broke its own record for the longest period without government, for already over 600 days. Even if the circumstances are extraordinary, securing affordable homes for the most vulnerable remains the main priority.