Report from the Northern Europe Community-Led Housing Regional Gathering, part of the CHOICE Project
In the early days of spring, participants from across Northern Europe gathered for the Community-Led Housing Regional Gathering at the ecovillage Avnø Oasis, a cozy ecovillage and højskole (adult learning center) on the Danish coast. This gathering was part of the CHOICE project, a CERV-funded initiative working to build a shared European narrative linking housing, climate justice and equality and to create spaces where policy proposals can be co-developed.
Participants came together to compare national experiences, including both challenges and opportunities, and to explore what community-led housing looks like in practice across Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Poland. The emphasis was not only on exchange, but on translating shared analysis into a collective advocacy road-map with real influence at the national and EU level.
Sessions included:
- National Realities — a mapping of housing contexts across Northern Europe, building shared analysis through country-focused perspectives while identifying common patterns and systemic challenges
- Community-Led Housing in Practice — presentation and evaluation of diverse community-led housing (CLH) initiatives from across the region, from housing cooperatives and co-housing projects to ecovillages, Community Land Trusts and other grassroots experiments
- Structural Drivers and Power Analysis — examination of the deeper forces shaping housing systems in Northern Europe, exploring who holds power and where the leverage points lie
- Co-Creating an Advocacy Road-map — a collaborative session translating practice-based insights into a collective road-map connecting local action to national and EU-level policy influence
Participants also explored the potential of Community-Led Housing models — including intentional communities and ecovillages — to serve as living laboratories for the housing systems Europe needs: long-term affordable, collectively governed, socially inclusive, and climate-resilient.
By the close of the gathering, participants had developed stronger cross-border connections, a shared understanding of regional housing dynamics, and a collectively built advocacy road-map to carry forward into future policy work.
Overall the gathering offered much inspiration and clarity on what becomes possible when communities from across a region align around a common direction. GEN Europe looks forward to continuing this work through the CHOICE project as similar regional gatherings unfold across Europe between now and 2027.
Photos by Ramona August
