Housing as a right, land as a commons
Housing is recognised as a social right in the European Pillar of Social Rights. Yet, in practice, much of Europe’s housing policy continues to treat housing primarily as a commodity and an asset.
Across Europe, communities are developing alternative models — from housing cooperatives and Community Land Trusts to collective ownership structures — that can keep housing permanently affordable, protect it from speculation and place long-term social value at the centre of decision-making. These models demonstrate that housing can be organised differently. Yet, despite their potential, they remain largely marginal within mainstream housing systems.
The second session in the series, “Housing as a Right, Land as a Commons”, will explore what it takes for cities and communities to move from recognising housing as a right in principle to supporting models that make this right tangible in practice. Through two presentations followed by a moderated roundtable, the session will look at experiences from across Europe and examine what happens when political ambition meets the legal, financial and institutional realities of housing.
At the heart of the conversation is a simple but challenging question:
When the market is failing everyone, why isn’t community-led housing the obvious answer?
The discussion will bring together Michaela Kauer from Mayors for Housing in Vienna with case studies of community-led housing to explore the conditions that enable alternative housing models to take root and become part of broader public strategies.
More Information
The CHOICE webinar series is a set of eight one-hour online sessions bringing together local governments and community-led housing initiatives (CLIs) from across Europe for facilitated exchange on affordable, sustainable, inclusive, and democratically governed housing . Each session brings together a community-led initiative with a representative from local or regional government, leaving space for the conversations that usually doesn’t happen. You can watch now the recording of the sessions here.
