The debate is there. Should a social housing company focus all energy on being an excellent housing provider? Why worry about social issues when there are other agencies who can focus on these themes. Many public housing agencies in the USA are looking for ways to improve the social situations for families and residents in... Continue Reading →
5 Game Changing Homeless Programs and Developments from Around the World
There are so many dedicated professionals working on the homeless issue around the world that we can sometimes forget to stop and appreciate the hard work and innovation. Below are 5 interesting programs, developments or ideas that have been implemented around the world. Hyper Aggressive Housing First in Finland: Finland as a country made housing... Continue Reading →
Great Advice from Denmark on Supporting Social Housing Tenant Rights
How do Social and Public Housing Associations respond to tenant needs? It is hard to imagine a better example of responsiveness to tenant needs than what is taking place in Copenhagen. I recently met Ulia Gregor who works for a large social housing organization called DAB Copenhagen. In fact, her organization has over 50,000 units.... Continue Reading →
3 Massive Public Housing Redevelopments Taking Place in the USA
Housing authorities across the USA are always trying to develop or redevelop new or existing affordable housing. In some cases, these redevelopments are multi-million and even billion dollar real estate deals. In these instances, the redevelopment brings jobs, infrastructure and opportunities to areas that might be economically depressed. Lets examine three of the larger projects... Continue Reading →
Growing Old in Place: Can Housing Providers Find an Answer?
I recently met and heard from Carina Dantas who works with and in the social housing and aging industry within Portugal. She spoke at the International Housing Festival about demographic change within social housing. Mrs. Dantas let us know that the aging population is growing dramatically not only in Portugal but all around the world.... Continue Reading →
5 Brilliant Public Housing Innovations
There are often complaints that the public sector is not innovative enough or is far behind the private sector. While there is truth in that statement, there are still hundreds of housing authorities around the world trying out and experimenting with new ideas to help the citizens and residents of their communities. Here are a... Continue Reading →
Public Housing Architecture: The New Architecture of the Collective
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing from Ilka Ruby a Berlin based publisher and curator on subjects regarding architecture and urban-ism. She focused on different social housing projects from around Europe, America and Asia. You can find here website here- Mrs. Ruby gave several examples of social housing ghettos... Continue Reading →
Public Housing: 3 Innovative Ideas to Address Tenant Needs
Below are ideas for helping tenants given by 3 speakers at the international public housing conference in Amsterdam. Idea 1: From Northern Ireland: Supporting those with dementia The speaker did a good job explaining the increasing needs of elderly tenants. The presenter focused on how a housing organization can help those suffering from dementia. Dr. McPeake... Continue Reading →
I.T. and Public Housing: What is Your Total Cost and Maturity?
The NetwiIT Network of professionals at housing corporations organized a very interesting session today at the International Social Housing Conference. Henk Korevaar the director of the network facilitated and led the sesstion As a participant and critique I learned quite a bit. The average I.T. costs for a public housing association in the Netherlands... Continue Reading →
Segregation in European Social Housing- A Path to Move Forward
The International Social Housing Festival is underway in Amsterdam and is bringing many interesting minds from academia, social housing companies and other think tanks together. Today we had the opportunity to hear from Maartin van Ham who is a professor of Urban Renewal at the University of Delft spoke about segregation and inequality. He brought... Continue Reading →