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This document o synthesis has been coordinated by the Lead Partnero the SUITE Project with the collaboration o all the partners who havebeen taking part in SUITE The Housing Project: the Free and Hanseat-ic City o Hamburg and the Lawaetz Foundation; the city o Iasi; theKrakw Municipality; Medway Council; Nantes Mtropole; NewcastleUpon Tyne; Rennes Mtropole; Santiago de Compostela City Counciland EMUVISSA; the city o Tallinn; as well as the URBACT expertswho worked jointly with the project since its beginning in 2008: DarinkaCzischke and Heidrun Feigeleld.

We would also like to show our special gratitude to CECODHAS andto the Group o Counsellors: International Union o Tenants, Feantsaand the EUROCITIES Working Group Housing. And, o course to allthe members o the ULSG in the nine cities and those colleagues whohave worked in the project in the past.

Thanks to all o you, this is your work!

Anita Leirvik and Beln Mendoza

SUITE project coordinatorsLead Partner

Santiago de Compostela City Council


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Preace.................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Introduction to SUITE The Housing Project .....................................................................

Local Action Plans SUITE An overview by the Lead Expert.........

Local Action Plan summaries: ..........................................................................................................................

The Free and Hanseatic City o Hamburg ......................................................................

Iasi City Council..................................................................................................................................................................

Social integration in Krakw......................................................................................................................

Medway Council................................................................................................................................................................

Nantes Mtropole...........................................................................................................................................................

Newcastle City Council.........................................................................................................................................

Rennes Mtropole..........................................................................................................................................................

Santiago de Compostela City Council..................................................................................

Tallinn City......................................................................................................................................................................................

Conclusions..............................................................................................................................................................................................

Credits ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Table o contents


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7SUITE The Housing ProjectSocial and Urban Inclusion Through Housing

I sincerely hope, at the end o this experience, thatthe commitment undertaken by Santiago de Com-postela to lead the SUITE project has lived up to yourexpectations. For our part, we have humbly endeav-oured to contribute the experience and knowledgeacquired during more than twenty years governingthe city, in oder to guarantee the objectives o socialintegration and access to housing.

The spatial spheres into which the urban area oSantiago is arranged are designed to integrateneighbourhoods and peripheries, starting rom an

urban development model that lays special empha-sis on actors such as sustainable development,historical, urban and environmental restoration, andsocial integration. This model is based on the goalsattained by rehabilitation and inrastructure policies,by means o which we have strived to generate hab-itable spaces around the city centre, where dierenttypes o amilies, o dierent ages and ethnic groups,with dierent economic and educational levels, canlive together.

A decade ago we set up our own public housingcompany, EMUVISSA, which, in collaboration withother state and regional administrations, managesthe urbanisation o land and development o socialhousing or low-income amilies. Nevertheless, a so-lution was required or groups at risk o social exclu-sion.

The SUITE project has given us the opportunity notonly to continue advancing in the study o multipleactors to be taken into account to undertake sus-tainable urban development, but also to incorporatesolutions or overcoming the crisis and laying the ba-sis or a dierent ramework or the uture.

The work method developed by the SUITE projectnetwork has proved to be an ideal system o analy-sis and exchange or the cities, since it enables usto approach the problem rom a close-up, urbanperspective; exchange experiences with other cit-ies; and prepare a specic project, in which we havebeen able to get the private sector to understandour proposal and cooperate in the implementationo public policies.

The diagnosis about the situation o social housingin Europe, attained ater this period o work and ex-changes among the partners and other players notincluded in the project, has resulted in nine local ac-tion plans (LAP). Thanks to these valuable tools, welocal governments can urther proposals enabling us

to increase and improve our management capacity,in the ace o new economic, social, environmentaland demographic challenges regarding the uturedevelopment o our cities.

In short, by working together we have ound thekeys that may help us to overcome the crisis with-out compromising our uture. The SUITE project hasdemonstrated such eectiveness in this rst stagethat, in my opinion, it would be a mistake not to con-tinue. Those o us in Santiago oer to continue lead-ing a second development phase, in which we look

orward to seeing you all again in order to continueadvancing together along the road we have under-taken.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thankeveryone or their contributions and ne attitude atall times. It has been a real pleasure working with theteams rom all o the nine participating cities. Thankyou and see you soon.

Xos A. Snchez Bugallo

Mayor o Santiago de CompostelaLead Partner SUITE Project


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INTRODUCTION TO SUITE

THE HOUSING PROJECTBy The Lead Partner

We have come a long way since we started workingon the idea o submitting this SUITE project to UR-BACT in 2007 or its approval in 2008. Many monthso hard work and exchanges between partners andother actors have gone by, and day by day the projecthas been enriched and enhanced, up to this momentor closure and summing up.

This nal project report includes a diagnosis on thesituation o social housing in Europe; three reports onthe working groups three lines o action establishedwithin the ramework o the project (social, economicand environmental); and nally, an executive sum-mary o each o the nine partners local action plans(LAP). This report intends to oer a brie summary o

the comprehensive work carried out by the partnercities LAPs and o the added value o SUITE or lo-cal governments.

The SUITE project involves a change in orientationand scale in the analysis o possible solutions or thechallenges acing cities when it comes to promot-ing sustainable urban development. It also repre-sents a change in the speed and response capacityo the European administration in the ace o prob-lems. The economic crisis in Europe paralyzed to acertain degree the refection o member states onnon-immediate problems. The steps taken in con-ceptual rameworks gave way to the urgent need orimplementing measures and actions aimed at get-ting around the crisis. However, programs such asURBACT II allowed us to continue exchanging ex-

periences and knowledge about sustainable urbandevelopment and, at the same time, to include quicksolutions to help navigate the crisis and to establisha dierent action ramework or the uture.

The SUITE network gives us the opportunity to makepractical progress in our way o dealing with the cri-sis o social housing construction in the cities. Wemust underline several important aspects o thework done by the SUITE network:

1.- It allowed us to continue thinking beyond themomentary situation o crisis.

2.- It helps us carry on acing the need or social

housing, despite economic and social chang-es.

3.- The experiences and projects o the partnersimprove social cohesion and mark the begin-ning o a strong commitment to sustainablesupplies in the area o housing, i.e. they dealwith areas o strategic interest to overcomethe economic crisis without compromising theuture. They ocus on structural policies, andnot on temporary actors.

In this way, the projects developed by the partnersallow us to move orward with proposals which tack-le the threeold objective o the economic-social-environmental mix. The dierent projects put moreor less weight on each o these components, de-


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pending on the specic needs o the city, but all othem contribute one or several elements to improvethe steering ability o local authorities in the ace othe new economical, social, ecological and demo-graphic challenges posed by the uture developmento our cities.

Santiago de Compostela, with the SUITE objectivesin sight, oered to lead the project because the localgovernment does not want to stop thinking aboututure strategic areas, although, o course, like all theother cities, it is in urgent need o immediate solu-tions to specic problems arising rom the new eco-nomic situation.

Our priority is to nd a better balance between thethree pillars (economic, social, and environmental) osustainable development policies, especially withinthe ramework o the structural policies necessaryor social cohesion, such as housing and town plan-

ning initiatives.

The government o Santiago has been promot-ing economic-social mix or two decades now, bymeans o town planning that is able to support socialmix rom the base, as well as the development andmanagement o such planning to achieve the goalso social integration and housing. Moreover, this hasbeen done in collaboration with other administra-tions, at both the national and regional levels. For10 years, through the public company EMUVISSA,the local administration has managed land urbani-zation and the promotion o social housing or lowincome amilies. However, we still needed to cateror a segment o the population that does not t intothe group o possible buyers o social housing: thoseat risk o social exclusion.

There is no steady ramework or refection to helpus move orward in the study and analysis o oersaimed at such social groups. That is the reason whySUITE poses a unique opportunity.First o all, it places the problem on the right scaleor study: town level. The problems we ace call ora close-up analysis o the dierent situations, or re-

fection amongst partners with similarities and whoact at an urban level.Second, a commitment is made to work constantly,contrasting opinions, comparing actions, adding val-ue to the proposals through the experience o othercities.

A third advantage is its pragmatic requirement todevelop a specic project with a programme or itsimplementation.

And lastly, the inclusion o all the sectors involved inthe action is made possible. The LAP have been anextremely important step orward in the cooperationbetween private and public sectors, in subjects thatthe public sector has diculty understanding.

In the ramework o this platorm or refecting, onthe right scale, about the problems aced by socialhousing in cities, all the partners elt comortableworking together and being required to work con-stantly, in order to meet the diculties posed by theprocess o project drating and designing.

And we elt comortable because we are all cities,local administrations, and municipal governments,discussing our problems and working together withother local actors that conorm the URBACT LocalSupport Groups established in each o the partnerscities.

We have worked non-stop to prepare the exchangeo ideas, solutions and practices carried out in all thedierent general meetings that were held in someo the project partners cities. This series o meet-ings will culminate with the ocial closure meeting inBrussels, with the support o the Urban Intergroup othe European Parliament and CECODHAS.

The suitability o SUITE or addressing the citiesproblems has thereore been proved. SUITE is auseul tool thanks to its scale, orm, work pace andbecause it generates specic projects. The utureimprovement o this tool or inter-city learning andcooperation might depend on the support receivedby the projects in uture editions, to boost the practi-cal aspect o SUITE and evaluate its results. We canonly improve what we can measure, and we need animplementation phase to check the results. Continu-ity is essential or this project, which should not stopat this planning phase. We need a second stage, andthat is why Santiago is prepared to continue workingand once again lead a project that is ready to takea step orward and speciy execution actions, or allthe projects developed by each o the partners. Thisis the challenge acing everyone that has been a parto the SUITE project.

Mercedes Rosn

Councillor or Housing and PlanningSantiago de Compostela City Council

Lead Partner - SUITE project

The role o Local Action Plans oran URBACT network

Local Action Plans (LAPs) play one o the main rolesin the work programme o projects in URBACT II.The undamental idea is to create a more direct andeective link between experiences gained at trans-regional and transnational levels and local concep-tion, planning and implementation by anchoring theEU exchange at the project partners local level. UR-BACT Local Support Groups (ULSGs), associationso relevant actors on the spot, rom city administra-tion but also as ar as possible rom urther aeld,develop a Local Action Plan on a theme that is parto the project theme while exchanging experienceand ideas as ruitully as possible with the transna-

tional level.

The Thematic Framework o theLAPs in SUITE

In the case o this URBACT project, SUITE, o course,the LAPs developed by the nine partners revolvearound the subject o housing, or more precisely,around housing programmes o various sizes and onvarious levels or closely connected housing-relatedanalysis and planning. Housing and programmesconcerned with it are indeed a very wide eld andthe project approach o integrated development withthe inclusion o both social and economic as well asenvironment-related actors provides no limitation,on the contrary.

The LAP Development ProcessThe selection and denition o the partners sus-tainability ocus was the starting point or them tochoose their theme on the basis o the urgency othe problem and their interests. This decision wastaken ater an iterative process o discussion, ques-tioning and analysis. As a urther step we consid-ered the inclusion o the theme as ar as possiblein a currently running or planned activity o the city/agglomeration (a housing programme, a concept orthe uture, the departure point o a pilot project etc.)to produce synergies and increase the chances orealisation.

This was also to be accompanied by limits, whether

according to target groups, the legal orm o housing(ownership, tenancy) or new construction or renova-tion among others, in order to reach an adequatelevel o concretisation.

A pilot project was also to be conceived in so ar asit made sense in the LAPs approach. The timing andcontent o steps or realisation were to be dened. Itwas also indispensable to clariy unding possibili-ties.

The URBACT Local SupportGroups ULSG

Ater coming to a decision the URBACT Local Sup-port Groups began local drating work. Those who

LOCAL ACTION PLANS SUITEAn overview by The Lead Expert


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took part in the transnational exchange (and the par-ticipation o more ULSG members o the partnerswas expressly desired) reported their ndings backto the ULSG, or conveyed questions to LAPs in theexchange activities o the network.

Note: the creation o so-called URBACT LocalSupport Groups was an integral component o

all URBACT II projects rom the beginning. Localwork groups which, starting rom the local ofceconcerned with the project (mostly city councildepartments), were intended to include as wide

a circle as possible o actors relevant or theLAP (stakeholders, institutions and other actors)develop the LAP together, ideally with intensiveexchange with the projects transnational discus-

sion level.

In accordance with this, SUITEs ULSG brought to-gether a wide circle o participants. The main groups

to be included were several dierent city councildepartments and similar institutions in the eld oconstruction, architecture and housing manage-ment and administration, residents representativesand relevant research elds (urbanism, technology,sociology).

While the development o the plan was progressingthe circles o participants were repeatedly checkedand modied according to new aspects i neces-sary.

Progress and SynthesisThe partners and their local work groups receivedstimuli rom the networks concern with the three o-cuses o the project (social, economic and environ-mentally related sustainability in housing) which wereapproached step by step. The passing on o mate-rial, the questioning beore the thematic workshops,the workshops themselves, comparisons betweenthe LAPS and the post-processing gave ood orthought or the urther development o the drats.

The next important step in the LAP development wasthe joint analysis o how ar the various LAPs hadalready achieved an integrating quality, i.e. havingalso suciently taken account o the other two ac-tors as well as their respective sustainability ocus inorder to create a synthesis.

This is the most undamental requirement or the aimo the project. Ultimately this was mainly provided bythe Synthesis Workshop with preliminary question-ing. This is where the nal stimuli or as integrativean orientation as possible or the LAPs was achievedbeore completion.

ChallengesNew ground was broken in URBACT with the LAP

and USLG concept and the act should not be con-cealed that this naturally also goes hand in handwith the diculties and imponderabilities o a learn-ing process which is additionally characterised bywidely dierent national and local circumstances,traditions, political situations and assigned areas ocompetence, as well as, in our case, also by ormso housing which are oten dicult to compare. Thiswas already shown by the initial discussion in thenetwork to clariy the meaning o the term socialhousing or the individual partners.

The ULSG members set themselves the challenge obringing their activities related to a Local Action Planinto line with their everyday work and obligations, se-curing support on policy and decision-making level,reacting to changes o personnel in their own ranksand tting in with the composition o the ULSG ac-cording to the Local Action Plan concretisation. Asan example, local experience and routine are widely

dierent in relation to the inclusion o residents ortheir representatives.

Overall however, national dierences should not beoverestimated, as experience here shows. Commit-ment, support and range o involvement are stronglyinfuenced by local situations and do not greatly re-fect the generally supposed dierences o mentality,new/old Member States, convergence or competi-tive regions. In any case motivated individuals playan important role, motors who carry the planning.On the special diculties o obtaining access to Eu-ropean ERDF subsidies or projects to do with hous-ing, please see the comments towards the end othis chapter.

There have been targeted endeavours to ensure thatsuch a LAP should not wear itsel out in an individualaction prompted by an EU project but should also besustainable over time so that mid to long-term im-provements are set in motion. All the projects LAPSmeet this requirement and are aiming to secure localand national unds or continuation.

The Broad Variety o the LAPsOn account o the previously mentioned wide spec-trum, both in the chosen theme o housing as wellas the set challenge o aiming or a synergy o allthree pillars o sustainability as well as the dierentbasic local housing situations, the result accord-ing the type o LAPs turned out, as expected, to bewidely dierent. We see this as a special quality be-cause it demonstrates in how dierent a way andunder what dierent conditions this synergy can byall means be achieved. This impressively conrmsthat the project achieved its aim.

A GroupingHowever, examination o the new LAPs nevertheless

permits certain groupings according to interestingcriteria. On the one hand o course this refects thethree pillars o sustainability and the above-men-tioned primary ocus selected in the LAP (e.g. ocuson the environment), on the other hand the type oLAP is a motivation to comparisons. It is howeverobvious that in many elds there is already a closelink between primarily the social and aordabilityand that a sharp separation is neither possible normeaningul. We identied our groups, each with twoor three LAPs.

More than mixing: balanced neighbourhoods

and building communities. (rom social sus-tainability/social mix to a synergy) - Ham-burg, Krakw and Iasi

Improving access to housing: beyond businss

as usual. (rom economic sustainability /a-ordability to a synergy) Santiago de Com-

postela and Nantes Mtropole

Sustainable housing: thinking outside the

box. (rom economic sustainability /aord-ability to a synergy) - Newcastle upon Tyneand Rennes Mtropole

Beyond ecology: holistic effects, with people

or people. (rom environmental sustainabilityto synergy) - Medway Council and Tallinn

Below are some remarks about these groups andtheir LAPs. For details o the LAPs themselves,please see the brie descriptions. This report cannaturally give only a highly abbreviated insight intothe individual LAPs. Links are thereore provided oraccess to more detailed versions. Some o thesemore detailed descriptions are also available in thenational language, which makes a great deal osense because the undamental level o communi-cation should be the local.

1 More than mixing: balanced neighbourhoods

and building communities. (rom social and eco-nomic sustainability to a synergy)

Hamburg, Germany (Hamburg Region): Social-ly Compatible Reurbishment (SCoRe)

Iasi, Romania (Nord East Region): Affordable

Housing - Policies regarding the provision oaordable housing

Krakw, Poland (Malopolskie Region): Lo-cal Action Plan or social mix in housing(KRAKW-MIX)

What these LAPs have in common is that they areprimarily concerned with the question o how aord-able housing or low earners can be provided or sae-guarded with the acceptance o the neighbourhood

while providing good quality. Municipal housing pro-grammes combined with accompanying measuresand targeted unding were drawn upon as tools.

Because the Hamburg ULSG sees its main concernchosen or the LAP as the early avoidance o nega-tive eects o gentrication, on the basis o an ex-isting implementation, it is testing how ar modelsor community building projects (based on specialunding rameworks) can be an ecient tool in thedevelopment o balanced neighbourhoods. The re-sult will be a manual addressed towards local to Eu-ropean levels.

The City o Iasi is developing a comprehensivehousing programme with the aim o reducing thehigh demand through extending the supply o socialhousing, targeted purchasing o building land, ben-ets and supporting services or especially aectedgroups such as the homeless and Roma.

The City o Krakw has the ambitious aim o tacklingseveral urgent tasks at the same time: ormulatinga new housing policy, acilitating social integrationthrough support or residents, publicity campaignsor better acceptance o social housing constructionby neighbourhoods, image building and a more e-cient housing and benets distribution system withthe emphasis on measures which can be appliedshort-term and economically.

All three managed to integrate each aspect o sus-tainability in the LAP in one way or another.Besides evaluation o the eorts towards social mix-ing, keeping access open or households with spe-cial needs and low income (e.g. sole earners) andcomprehensive resident participation Hamburg alsotook notice o the environmental standards achievedin the renovation.

Besides its attention to aordability and accessibilityor priority groups (young households) and ecientdelivery, Iasi is also taking on the responsibility oputting energy eciency in the oreground, especial-ly in new construction.

Krakw on the other hand continued its raising oenvironmental standards under aordable condi-tions already begun in social housing pilot projects.

2 Improving access to housing: beyond businessas usual. (rom economic sustainability to a syn-ergy)

Nantes Mtropole, France (Pays-de-la-

Loire Region): Aordable housing in NantesMtropole (LCH - Low-Cost Housing)

Santiago de Compostela, Spain (Lead Partner)

(Galicia Region): Increased oer o rental hous-ing (To Rent)


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The aim better access to aordable housing isshared by both LAPs but the paths towards thisare very dierent due to widely dierent histories inhousing and the various orms o organisation andallocation o responsibility. This makes a comparisonall the more interesting.

The contents o the LAPs are contributions to hous-ing programmes which open up new ways o accessto housing.

Santiago de Compostela is dedicating itsel to aparadigm shit which is still not widespread in Spainin that it is changing over to providing lower earn-ers with aordable housing to rent rather than asowner-occupied. This is intended to be tested as apilot project on the basis o new construction withaccompanying examination.

Nantes Mtropole, an administrative unit which

stretches ar beyond the city and which implementsthe common policy, including housing policy, o thewhole agglomeration, is extending its already ambi-tious housing programme in order to cover the stillexisting great demand or aordable home owner-ship or young rst-time buyers. This is intended tostop young households moving away rom the ag-glomeration. The core is the testing o pilot projectsin compact individual housing operations and thepromotion o such developments in proessional a-ordable home ownership workshops.

The achievement o integrated sustainability wasalso visibly the aim in this group. Accompanyingthe new provision Santiago de Compostela is tyingin easily accessible rental fats with preparatory andaccompanying housing related social services. Highenvironmental standards have been set as an aim innew construction.

Nantes Mtropole: The orientation o the LAP andthe chosen pilot project towards densication, eco-construction principles, a greater mix in the types ohousing and the connection to the numerous alreadyexisting social services related to housing guaran-

tee attention to all sustainability criteria. The city oNantes, the core o Nantes Mtropole, has recentlybeen allocated the Green Capital Award 2013 asa pioneer in matters o environmental quality andbrings its experience into the LAP.

3 Sustainable housing: thinking outside the box.(rom economic sustainability to a synergy)

Newcastle upon Tyne , UK (North East Region):

Urban Village - An inclusive and mutually sup-portive community

Rennes Mtropole, France (Bretagne Region):

Container housing in Rennes Mtropole (B3 -Built By Boxes)

As dierent as these plans may be both o theseLAPs have a special approach the direct imple-mentation o an innovative concept and a stronglyexperimental character. In Newcastle the experimen-tal element lies in a concept or the development oa clearly socially mixed community with the inclusiono heavily disadvantaged groups. It is ultimately sec-ondary whether new construction or the reurbish-ment o old building substance is the basis. Despitea tense nancial situation a pilot project is underdevelopment. Cost arguments are dominant but thesocial components, including support services arealso very closely interwoven.

In its urgent search or aordable housing RennesMtropole, also an agglomeration administration oa newer kind, is aiming or a signicant reduction inbuilding costs and thereore experimenting with newbuilding material, norming and variability. Containersare to be included as basic elements. As in Nantes

Mtropole the target groups are young amilies olow-income buyers in rst-time home-ownership. Aprototype and a pilot project serve as the test ob-

ject.

Despite the aim o large cost reductions both LAPsalso meet the demand or social and environmentalsustainability in order to provide integrated quality.In Newcastle through the permeation o the cohabi-tation concept with holistic environmentally-riendlyprinciples, in Rennes Mtropole with great attentionto technically high environmental and energy-savingstandards in the construction design as well as in-tended residents participation.

4 Beyond ecology: holistic eects, with people,or people. (rom environmental sustainability to asynergy)

Medway Council, UK (South East Region):

Developing a ocussed property-specic DATA-BASE (Medway In Focus)

Tallinn, Estonia (Eesti Region):

Energy saving in social housing (ESIS)

Here are the two LAPs whose primary approach isin environmental concerns. Tallinn, the capital o Es-tonia has set itsel the aim o demonstrating energy-saving solutions in the eld o social housing andintroducing them into the private sector as part o anambitious overall strategy or the promotion o localenergy-saving policies. Two low-energy standard so-cial housing buildings as well as semi-detached anddetached homes or orphans serve as pilot projects.

Medway Council has developed a detailed house-by-house database or the whole area on the basiso which housing standard, choice and aordabilityo housing is intended to be improved along withhealth and well-being. Fuel poverty should also bereduced.

However, both LAPs are also strongly entwinedwith other sustainability criteria. Tallinn is targetinglow-income groups or whom aordable small fatsshould be made available and they are also creatingprovision or a special target group which takes rstplace in the priorities in the social eld orphans.

Medway Council will not only be able to make aconsiderable reduction in energy requirement in oldbuilding stock on the basis o its database, analy-sis and coordinated actions but also address manyother measures to improve the housing situation. Bybringing together initiatives and resources (includingan approach to include residents) it has a stronglyintegrative character. Furthermore, in the pilot eldaccess is being sought to a new group o migrantsrom Slovakia, presumably Sinti or Roma.

Funding by the EuropeanRegional Development Fund(ERDF)

Possibilities to receive ERDF unds or plans con-nected with housing have developed very dramati-cally during the duration o the programme, whichmeans also during the SUITE project period. Overallthere are three existing orms o unding. However,they brought no new unds with them but were con-ceived as a redistribution o existing resources.

At the beginning o the project there was already oneorm o unding, the ERDF Programme 2007-2013which provides the opportunity to include housing-related unding or regions in New Member States(the EU 12) up to an amount o 2% o the total ERDFallocation. In particular, this unding is intended topromote the reurbishment o the common parts oresidential buildings, measures to increase energy-eciency and the transormation o buildings ownedby non-prot or public bodies into aordable hous-ing.

Triggered by the crisis in Europe, urgent social priori-ties and by discussion on Climate Change, two ur-ther orms o unding were added rom April 2009,now or all Member States.

In the rst o these orms expenditure on energyeciency improvements and on the use o renew-able energy in existing housing is eligible (up to anamount o 4%). The proposal was intended to payspecial attention to the most vulnerable householdswho too oten suer rom uel poverty.

Finally, in April 2010 the unding spectrum or allMember States was extended to housing-relatedexpenditure or marginalised groups, such as Romacommunities and others. This should also make itpossible to put in place measures against exclusion(up to 3%) outside integrated urban renewal pro-

grammes (e.g. in peripheral areas).

It can be seen that all three structural unds can byall means be drawn upon or the implementation ovarious aspects o SUITEs LAPs. They have alsobeen discussed in the project and, as provided or inthe structure o URBACT projects, eorts are beingmade to set up contact to the regional or nationalauthorities managing these unds, the Managing

Authorities.

However, our short experience has shown that ornumerous reasons access to application or suchunds or LAPs could not be established. These in-clude the novelty o the material or all participants(also or Managing Authorities in the relevant re-gions), the sometimes lacking relationship to theOperational Programmes, diculties in denition,contact problems, a lack o national co-nancingpossibilities and the advanced point in time o the

unding period. At that time only one o the LAPs,Tallinn, has achieved a high level o concretisation inrelation to ERDF unding.

However, since all the plans have at least a medium-term horizon, there are opportunities to be well pre-pared to apply or unds in the next unding period. Itis thereore all the more important, also or the SUITEnetwork, to establish a clearly structured uture Co-hesion Policy which accounts or the importance ohousing in its integration in urban developments andwhich recognises components o housing which gobeyond national borders into a common Europeanresponsibility and which provides relevant unds.

Please see these brie descriptions o Local ActionPlans o the SUITE networks partners which wehope are inormative and provide stimulus or yourown innovative action.

Heidrun Feigeleld

Lead Expert

SUITE Prroject


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LOCAL ACTION PLAN SUMMARIESA synthesis o the Local Action Plans o the partners o

SUITE The Housing Project

This section represents an overview o the Local Action Plans o the nine partners that have been workingtogether in SUITE The Housing Project

City of Hamburg (Germany)

Newcastle Upon Tyne

(United Kingdom)

City of Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

Tallinn CIty (Estonia) Rennes Mtropole (France)

City of Iasi (Romania)

City of Krakw (Poland)

Medway Council

(United Kingdom)Nantes Mtropole (France)


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LAP o the Free and Hanseatic

City o HamburgBy the Johann Daniel Lawaetz Foundation on behal o the Ministry orSocial and Family Aairs, Health and Consumer Protection with the

collaboration o the ULSG members

Socially CompatibleReurbishment (SCoRe)

Background / Problem

When looking at the current situation on the housingmarket in Hamburg, the ollowing main problems canbe identied:

Acute lack of affordable rental housing,

particularly social housing or tenants with a low

income

The actions o the City o Hamburg to build new so-cial housing are not sucient to increase the stock.

At the same time the social housing rent control endsor many fats during the next two decades. Plannedregulatory measures o the Senate o Hamburg tokeep up the rent control or the housing stock o themunicipal housing company SAGA GWG will stabi-lize the amount o social housing only at the presentstage, but are not sucient to generate an increasein the supply o social housing. The market pressureon low-income tenants (e.g. single parents and stu-dents) will thereore continue to grow, especially inthe neighbourhoods which are attractive or mem-bers o the creative class (according to R. FloridasclassicationI).

Energy saving reconstruction requirements for

a large percentage o rental fats

Both the Federal Government o Germany and theSenate o Hamburg have ambitious climate protec-tion targets. By 2020 the Federal Government plansto have reduced the heating needs o all buildingsby 20%. The housing stock in Germany is even sup-posed to have a carbon-neutral energy balance by2050.

According to inormation rom the Hamburg City De-velopment Authority there are 875.529 dwellings in237.101 residential buildings, among them 132.779detached houses, 26.590 semi-detached houses and77.732 apartment buildings (data o 2008). The Ten-ants Association estimates that some 120.000 fatsare in need o energy ecient renovation. But whilethe transer o the redevelopment in urban buildingstocks (approximately 15% o the apartments areowned by the municipal housing company SAGA-

GWG, another 15% are owned by traditional hous-ing cooperatives) to the rent is largely socially com-patible, the redevelopment o dwellings in privateproperty oten leads to a dramatic increase in rents.Currently, up to 11% p.a. o the reurbishment costscan be allocated to the rent, which oten causes animmediate or a step by step displacement o low-income tenants rom the renovated apartments.

Clearly detectable gentrication processes in

inner city residential areas

Attractive inner city residential areas, in particular,like St. Georg, E imsbttel, Ottensen, Schanzenvierteland St. Pauli, are acutely threatened by gentrication.Signs o this are e.g. increasing rents, the luxury

modernization o housing, infux o high-pricedshops, migration o the resident population.

Actions taken (Local Action Plan)

Main Focus

The Local Action Plan o Hamburg that is going tobe carried out within the ramework o the SUITEproject aims at making a contribution to preventingthe negative eects o gentrication.

A special orm o housing that has become increas-ingly popular during recent years is housing projectswhich are carried out by so-called Baugemeinscha-tenII. Relating to the experience gained rom a largenumber o building community projects in Hamburg,there is strong evidence that these projects are ableto cause a positive impact on all three areas o sus-

tainability on which the SUITE project is based:

1. Creation o an appropriate social mix thatcontributes to a stabilization o the localneighbourhood.

2. Provision o aordable housing through acreative combination o various nancingmodels (e.g. combination o privately ownedfats and cooperative rental apartments in oneproject).

3. Provision o reurbished housing with a highenvironmental standard.

Thereore the Local Action Plan ocuses mainly onthe constructive impacts housing projects - espe-cially those which are u ndertaken in redevelopment-needy buildings - can have on achieving or maintain-ing the social and cultural diversity in the district andto cushion or avoid the negative eects o gentrica-tion.

Target Groups

The target groups o the LAP are on the one handpotential initiators o building community projects,and on the other hand proessionals rom publicpolicy and government (e.g. mayors, local politiciansand urban planners) who want to use building com-munity projects as a(n) (additional) tool in the urbandevelopment o their cities.

Main Steps

The Local Action Plan or Hamburg aims at a de-tailed analysis o the oten successully tested modelo building community projects and wants to makeit available as a tool or housing measures or the ba-sis o a similar programme in other cities. The ac-tions are divided into three main steps:


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I. Analysis o a successul building community

project

The rst step is a scientic analysis o a success-ul housing project, which describes in detail thekey actors that contributed to the success o theproject in the three thematic areas o sustainabil-ity. The Good Practice Example selected or thispurpose is the housing project Greves Garten inHamburg-BergedorIII. The research is being carriedout in close cooperation with representatives o theresidential project.

II. Production and publication o a manual or

building community projects

The results o the scientic research will be summa-rized and presented as a manual or building com-munity projects. This manual is intended to be useulon dierent action levels:

- On the local level to help develop and carryout new housing projects and contribute newaspects to the current discourse on the pre-vention o gentrication in inner-city quarters oHamburg.

- On the national level by transerring knowledgeto other German cities and municipalities thatare interested in promoting housing projects inthis way.

- On the European level by making the ndingsaccessible to other European cities, amongothers the partners o the SUITE network, andby incorporating the experience into a transna-tional discourse (e.g. within the ramework oURBACT and CECODHAS).

III. Dissemination

The results o the research and the manual willbe presented rstly within the context o a ULSGWorkshop. Further presentations are planned in theramework o international conerences. The manual

will or example be used by the Lawaetz Foundationin the counseling o community building projects.

Timeline

The ollowing timeline describes the main steps oimplementation:

Outcome

Lessons Learnt

Through the exchange with the SUITE partner cit-ies it became clear that some aspects such as thetarget groups or the possible dimension o commu-nity building projects had to be described moreclearly.

Success Factors

The Local Action Plan or Hamburg provides an ac-tive contribution to the current debate on housingpolicy and gentrication in Hamburg. Currently alot o discussions are taking place on this subject.Stakeholders that represent the rights o tenants o-cus in particular on this subject. Also numerous pub-lications in the media show that it is a topic o publicinterest.

The concentration on building community projectsadds another aspect to the discussion, because the

role o housing projects in cushioning or avoiding thenegative aspects o gentrication has rarely beentaken into closer consideration so ar. By ocus-ing particularly on the building community projectGreves Garten, the aim is not primarily the repre-sentation o a single good-practice example, but thedevelopment o general recommendations or smallhousing measures, developed on the basis o a con-crete project.

Furthermore, the integrative approach o the LocalAction Plan is in accordance with Hamburgs Frame-work Programme or Integrative City Development(RISE- Rahmenprogramm Integrierte Stadtteilent-wicklungIV) that requires close cooperation o dier-ent governmental departments o the City o Ham-burg and its districts.

Challenges

The main challenge in the implementation o theLocal Action Plan in Hamburg is a lack o person-nel and nancial resources. It cannot be assumedthat the managing authority o the SUITE project inHamburg, the Ministry or Social and Family Aairs,Health and Consumer Protection (BSG) will be ableto provide additional resources or its disseminationand urther measures.

This had to be taken into consideration when deningthe aims. It was thereore decided to choose a strictlylimited aspect o the main topic o gentrication thatcan be implemented during the running phase o theproject and by using the nancial resources availableor Hamburg rom the SUITE budget.

Future Issues

The aim is an embedding o building communities inwider projects or the rehabilitation o socially disad-vantaged neighbourhoods and the development onew neighbourhoods, e.g. in industrial areas or oninner-city wastelands that are provided or conver-sion.

SUITE Network Impact

The cooperation within the network SUITE gave astrong boost to the development o the topic o theLocal Action Plan. It became clear that the success-ul and advancing tradition o building communitiesin Hamburg makes it worthwhile analyzing the keysuccess actors o the instrument building commu-nity project systematically in order to make it appli-cable or other projects in Hamburg, in Germany andin other European cities.

Contacts:

Peter Homann-Wick

Free and Hanseatic City o HamburgMinistry or Social and Family Aairs, Health

and Consumer [email protected]

Wolgang Khn

Johann Daniel Lawaetz [email protected]


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Description o the Project

Basic Data

Situated in the east o Hamburg (district o

Bergedor)Size o the property 5.181 square metersCompleted in late 20065 multiple amily dwellings, 4 detachedhouses7 renovated existing buildings, 2 newbuildings30 residential units92 inhabitants (21 amilies with 37 childrenand adolescents)Rent rom 5.40 to 6.30 (per square meter)

Goals

Desire or neighbourly living and mutualsupportAordable housing or amilies in the districtPreservation o 100 year old historicalbuildingsCareul increase o inner city densityEnergy savings as contribution to climateprotection

Technical Standard

District heating network with 8 attachedsingle- and multi-amily homesWood pellet heating

Gas-red condensing boilersSolar collector area o 45 square meters insupport o the heatingDecentralized water heating via heat exchang-ers in the fats

Controlled ventilation system (without heat recovery)

Key Success Factors (Group)

Common wish, uniying idea (amily)Willingness to contribute personal resources.Motto: Anything we do ourselves helps tosave money!Learning rom the experiences o other resi-dential projectsPersonal accountabilityWell unctioning organization and communi-

cation within the groupMaintenance o the property is a joint task

Key Success Factors (nancial/technical)

Proessional guidance (but group is the own-er)Financial support rom urban programs (butgroup has nancial risk)Careul increase o inner city density throughnew houses and reurbishing/developing atticspace

Combination o owner-occupied units and rented units: Individual owners subsidizecommunally owned property

Appendix

I Florida, Richard: Cities and the Creative Class (New York, 2005)

II This term describes a group o people that have decided to orm their own community and want to create their living environment ac-cording to their own special requirements. Although there is not a ully synonymous expression in English, Baugemeinschat can be

translated best as building community. In the ollowing this term is used.

III You will nd some inormation about this project in the appendix.

IV See http://www.hamburg.de/ueber-rise/2672658/ueber-rise.html [12.01.2011]

Building Community Project


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LAP o Iasi City CouncilBy the Department o Development and European Projects and Iasi City Council

with the collaboration o the ULSG members

Background / Problem

IntroductionSocial Housing is a basic and undamental issueaecting individuals and communities and animportant determinant o health and well-being. Itis also the largest asset or most amilies and a keyelement o both the wealth and health o individualsand the overall economy. Housing aects the natio-nal economy and a range o stakeholders includingconsumers, builders, developers, realtors, landlordsand mortgage lenders.

Iasi Municipality needs a long-term and sustaining

unding ramework or housing that provides su-cient and predictable unding to enable implemen-tation o solutions locally.

Demography

The territory we will make reerence to is that o IasiCity, o 94, 7 km2 surace, representing the centero a metropolitan area o 787, 87 km2.

The Iasi population, registered on 1st January2010, was o 308843 inhabitants, ollowing an

increasing tendency o 3,2% annual rate, but theestimated drit or the next period is o 3,4%.The number o households last registered (in 2002)

was o 105392, presenting a slight increase tenden-cy.

The structure o amily households rom Iasi, in2008, indicated a percentage o 10% or one mem-ber amilies, 15% or couples and 75% or amilieso more than two members.

Regarding populations structure according themain demographic variables, sex distribution wasconstantly kept within 2010, dierent to the lastsituation registered in 2002, so 52,7% representsthe eminine population and 47,3% represents themasculine population.

Within 2010, the age category or Iasi population isstructured as ollows:

young citizens under 35 years old cover48,8% o population (150894 inhabitants),citizens aged between 35 and 60 cover36,4% o population (112577 inhabitants),elders over 60 cover 14,7% (45372 inhabit-ants).

The Roma population o Iasi increased within lastyears, rom 0,6% o total population (1898 persons)in 2002 to 1,2% (3679 persons) in 2008.

In 2010, the number o citizens that benet o socialassistance reached 68000.


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rehabilitate a large number o dwellings.

In terms o dwelling market price levels, these haveregistered an upward trend until the end o 2008 (in2007, the increase was 20-30%), the explanationbeing ound in the increasing gap between the lowbid and the rising level o demand. Later however,dwelling price levels dropped a lot, with the emer-gence o economic and nancial crisis. The rentalprices had the same development path.

Social dwelling vacancy rate is the proportion o so-cial dwellings which are available but not occupied,and is one o the key indicators used to measuresocial dwelling needs in a certain territory. In Iasi,the small number o new social dwellings causespressure on the existing park, and translates intolower rates o vacancy.

Problem

Brie description o the problem

The objective o the action plan is to secure newlong term government investment to harness andmaximize the impact o existing assets and newinvestment. Over a sustained period this will reducehomelessness, improve housing aordability andrestore a well-unctioning housing system withhealthy dynamic neighborhoods.

The objective o this Local Action Plan is the pro-posal o measures / activities to address problemsacing the social / aordable dwellings in Iasi.Strengthening solidarity and ensuring social andterritorial balance o city residents living standardsis the main priority o the objective.

Social dwelling policy is at the crossroads o avariety o needs that must be met, which involvesthe denition o intervention priorities to the wholeurban community and a very active partnershipapproach. The economic development supporto all urban agglomeration sectors represent the

objective that must be considered, although inpractice this objective is dicult to be achieve inthe short term.

Target groups

Social housing policies try to address the housingproblem but have oten been implemented in suchways that the people in real need are not reachedand/or the social housing projects do not improvethe overall living conditions o people or lack a con-tribution to sustainable urban development o theirproblems. Developing and thereore allowing orbetter implementation o social housing contributesdirectly to the living conditions and to the growth ocities in the developing world.

Social dwellings are living places, access restrictedby norms, meant to support amilies with nancialproblems in buying a house.These dwellings are structured upon a standard andare meant to be rented (or joint property) or a pricebelow market price.

The target population applying or this kind o livingplaces should meet the ollowing conditions:

- should not have a dwelling;- amilys monthly net medium income (amilyapplying or such a dwelling) or the income o theperson requiring the dwelling, within last 12 mon-ths, should be 20 % lower than net medium wageestablished by law ;- persons that have never received state support

Within social dwellings, we also include another

category o dwellings- convenient dwellings. Theseare the private property o Iasi Municipality, and aredesignated or persons or amilies that do not ownand never owned a dwelling as their property, thathave never been supported by state within loans orconstruction works or building a dwelling and/orare not involved as owners in renting contracts or adwelling awarded according Law 114/1996.

Action taken

Steps taken and policy adopted

Iasi Municipality is proposing a comprehensive stra-tegy over the next years to meet the ollowing tar-gets. The priorities are: (1) to preserve and enhanceexisting assets; (2) to reduce homelessness and thenumber o people needing social housing; and (3) toexpand the supply o aordable housing necessaryto meet existing and uture need.

1. Reduce homelessness in next years:

Create new transitional supportive and permanent

aordable housing opportunities and appropriatesupport to stabilize underlying issues that contribu-te to chronic homelessness (e.g., mental health andaddiction).

2. Expand the stock o aordable, social

housing:

A growing population creates new households. Thisgoal aims to create enough new permanent aorda-ble housing to stabilize housing need. This housingcan include new construction and acquisition/pre-servation o existing market units.

3. Reduce the backlog in core housing need in

the next years:

The unemployment rate o citizens in Iasi reacheda number o 5822 on 30th April 2010, covering2,61% o stable population, more than 2008, whenthe unemployment rate covered 2,21%.

Unemployments structure on age categories analy-zed in 2010 is:

young people under 25 years old 704,persons between 25 and 30 years old 596,persons between 30 - 40 years old 1406,persons between 40 50 years old 1438,persons over 50 1678.

The labour market o Iasi, within last census, regis-tered an active population o 136504 citizens (thedierence till reaching the whole population is o184384, this number representing the inactive citi-zens), out o which 119791 were active persons.

The number o retired citizens upon then same datewas 59256, and the number o pupils and studentswas 84885.

The structure o Iasi amily households in 2008indicated a percentage o 10% or amilies o onemember, 15% or couples and 75% or amilies omore than two members.

Urban challenges

Iasi is an important economic center in Romania. Ithas developed commercial activities within metals,antibiotics, textiles, wines and meat, but it is also animportant banking center. This city has become arepresentative IT center, submitting many sotwarecompanies, and it is recognized as being a culturalcenter, with two prestigious high class universities.Instead o all this, Iasi area is well known as havinga poor wage rate/ incomes and a reduced level oemployed working orce.

Social dwelling sector is characterized by a gene-ral ailure, but the most aected groups are young

amilies, amilies evacuated rom their homes, ami-lies o low incomes and whose members have nojob, and those living in old buildings, whose tech-nical parameters are extremely low. Many citizensare not able to satisy their housing need withoutadditional nancial aid. Some o that aid shouldcome rom better targeting o subsidies.

The social dwelling sector has been neglected withlarge scale privatization. But, given the low inco-mes o a large proportion o the population and thegrowing number o evictions, it takes a signicantnumber o these dwellings to be temporary oeredto people that cant aord to own a dwelling. In thisregard, a major problem is the demand pressure, interms o ailure or the construction o such dwe-llings. This sector is acing also, with the need to


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This will use a variety o approaches, includingrental assistance and assisted home ownership, aswell as new construction or acquisition/preserva-tion, to expand the number o aordable housingunits.

This document rst sets the context or a morecomprehensive approach: why housing matters andwhere the housing system is currently ailing. Thenit identies a range o approaches and prioritiesthat together can respond to these problems andimprove outcomes in an inclusive and comprehen-sive way.

In order to reach this purpose, the specic activities/ measures we propose are the ollowing:

reviving the production / construction o socialdwellings, acting on blocking actors such asinsucient land, available or such dwelling

construction.regarding the aordable dwellings, oers de-velopment involve the activities as: incitemento promoters and investors within this eld,maintaining the dwelling renting price withinthe lower limits, encouraging the introductiono aordable collective dwellings in the circuit.However, the diculties o implementing thesemeasures, related to the lack o a public-privatepartnership (current and on short term) tosecure conditions avorable to investment inthis sector, and the major diculties o Romanyethnicity social integration should be taken intoaccount.the response to local demand or social dwe-llings requires a collective eort that aces anextremely restrictive national and local context,characterized by the lack o unds necessaryor implementation o construction works. Inthis context, ensuring conditions or increasingvolume o EU unds used to nance the cons-truction o social dwellings becomes a majorcomponent.ensuring continued unding o essential pro-grams within a term planning based on needs /

demand.promoting ecological dwellings construction,energy ecient.investment or ensuring the quality o social /aordable dwelling stock.location o social / aordable dwellings nearpublic transport axes and centers o economicactivity, to ensure a high level o accessibility. Itshould be noted however that this requires thedevelopment o urban transport inrastructureand an urban development structured policy,and dicult tasks to be perormed in the cu-rrent context, on the short term.spotting and exploiting the land opportunities inurban areas. For now, on a rst assessment, wend insucient land that can be used to build

social dwellings.anticipating the uture needs o dwellings inorder to create land reserves on medium andlong term.ensuring the diversication o dwellings oc-cupation, coupled with measures to meet thedwelling needs o young people and ethnicintegration.increase / maintain the social dwellings share olow-class at a highest level.

Financing

Financial sources that can be mobilized to nancethe construction o social dwellings include theollowing major components:

1. Local budget - setting an annual budget o in-vestment in social dwellings in the urban communi-ty. In Romanias current economic conditions, localbudget unds or this purpose are, and probably willremain at a low level, insucient compared withwhat would be necessary.

2. Attracted unds - looking or opportunities toallocate loans to nance the construction o socialand aordable dwellings. Unavorable economicand nancial context makes it dicult to attract, inavorable terms, such unds.

3. European unds - ensuring the conditions to in-crease the volume o EU unds used to nance theconstruction o social dwellings.

Outcome

Lessons learnt

Determine which are the goals and the policies re-garding social and aordable housing. Iasi City Hallrealized that all the partners have problems regar-ding construction o social housing and also withthe target groups that each one is addressing to.

Success actors

Identiy reasons or empty properties.Make use o existing sites such as empty orunder used buildings to develop aordablehousing.Make planning more supportive by consistencyo decision-making.

Aordable housing must be an essential part oa community plan and integrated into the citysaspirations.Reduce building costs and increase energyeciency, planners should be more willing toaccept lower cost buildings.Provide education on planning or youngpeople.

Challenges come across

Retain the existing supply o aordablehousing.Maintain and expand the housing rehabilitationprogram.Ensure an adequate land supply or aordablehousing.Develop and support public and private pro-grams.

Policy adapted

Improving the planning process to ensure itencompasses the ull range o issues.Develop closer working relationships with localinstitutions to raise awareness o the process oproviding aordable housing.Ensure that aordable housing is integral tocommunity plans.Make use o existing sites such as empty orunder-used buildings to develop aordablehousing.Bring more empty properties back into use

Future issues to address

How it is possible to integrate dierent classes otarget groups (mostly roma people) to live togetherin the same buildings without conronting problems.

SUITE networks impact on LAP

This network helped us to improve our goals andimage regarding building social housing

Contacts:

Beatrice Fotache

City Hall o IasiDepartment o Development and EuropeanProjects

Iasi - RomaniaTel:0040720037566E-mail: [email protected]

Catalina Lucaci

Department o Development and EuropeanProjectsIasi - RomaniaTel: 0040744793271E-mail: [email protected]


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Local Action Plan or social

integration in KrakwBy the Municipality o Krakw with the collaboration

o the ULSG members

Introduction

Krakw is the most globally known Polish city whichis attractive in terms o both economy and tourism.Thanks to its remarkable history and dynamic presentit provides its inhabitants with prestigious living con-ditions, which is why property prices are very high incomparison to other cities in Poland. What is more,there is a considerable share o old buildings belong-ing to private owners that had previously been man-aged by the Municipality, but that in the last dozen orso years have been intensively taken over, requentlytogether with their occupants, by their initial ownersor their legal successors.

The economic plans o these owners and the eco-nomic calculations result in the current tenants oten

being orced to leave their fats. At the same time,since 2002, the owner is entitled to claims or dam-ages rom the municipality with regard to the non-provision o social premises to the person holdingthe right to such premises on the basis o a courtorder.

Main problems and challenges

In order to perorm its obligations resulting rom thevalid court decisions, the Municipality o Krakwshould provide nearly 2,800 premises.

Every year the Krakw City Hall registers approx.300 new eviction orders and approx. 660 applica-tions rom people interested in accommodation aidrom the Municipality or various causes.

Apart rom the confict between the owners o build-ings and fat tenants, another characteristic eature othe accommodation situation in Krakw is the emer-gence o social protests at the planning, design orexecution stages o communal housing investments.In previous years such protests caused delays in in-vestments, reduction o their size and introductionby the Krakw City Hall o ormal restrictions whileconducting investments that involved the obligationo obtaining Krakw City Halls permission or theexecution o residential buildings and the limitationo communal investments to individual buildings, aswell as the restrictions concerning the managemento premises in the central zone o the City.

In view o budget diculties and lack o investmentpossibilities or the rapid solution o housing prob-lems through construction o several thousand com-munal fats in a short period o time, the opportunityor mitigating these problems may be introducedby a new housing policy that would envisage in-rastructural and social mechanisms enabling bothconstruction o greater number o new communalfats and the simultaneous implementation o socialintegration.

Undertaken measures

1) Introduction o a new housing policy:

The rst method to improve the housing situation inKrakw is to introduce changes in the local regula-

tions through the ormulation o a new housing pol-icy.

The impulse or the preparation o changes in thelaw appeared thanks to Krakws accession to theSUITE project, and works on the preparation o theircontent progressed during this projects executionperiod. The entire drat o the new housing policyhas already been prepared.

It is expected that in the next ew months the dratresolution concerning housing policy will be pre-sented or the approval o the Krakw City Hall. Thehousing policy is a strategic document o the secto-rial programme importance that species long-termgoals in the area o housing in Krakw.

The strength o the anticipated update is its comple-mentary nature, as work is simultaneously conductedon the drat update o long-term programme or the

management o the Municipalitys housing resources(also a sectorial programme) and the drat update oresolution concerning the principles o renting resi-dential premises belonging to these resources.

One o the top principles o the new housing policy isthe practical execution o the idea o social integra-tion that will be implemented, or example, on thebasis o previous avorable experiences gained rompopulating communal buildings in the Ruczaj neigh-borhood which Krakw presented as a successulventure in the area o social integration as part o theSUITE project.

2) Mitigation o conficts through the

implementation o social integration

executed by way o the ollowing

actions:

a/ Exchange programme.b/ Occupant assistance programme.c/ Public consultations and media campaigns.

Due to the impossibility o immediate and radical im-provement o the housing situation and the impossi-bility o the total elimination o conficts between theentities that coexist in the housing sphere in Krakw,the obvious stipulation and opportunity or the miti-gation o existing conficts and their eects wouldbe the implementation o such methods and proce-dures that would enable the practical execution othe principle o social integration in Krakw.The stipulated means o social integration implemen-tation is the execution o the exchange programmeand the occupant assistance programme. The es-sence o the ormer is the creation o opportunitiesor the occupants to adapt the size and structure opremises, and thus the rent, to the nancial abilitiesand the number o household members living in thegiven premises.

The latter programme involves making availablefats o higher standard in the expected location(in Krakw the propertys location is the key actordetermining the value o the fat) to occupants withhigher income on condition that they engage theirown nancial means in the renovation or decorationo the premises.

At the same time the remaining groups o tenants willbe careully selected to populate every building atera thorough and multilateral analysis o the living situ-ation o those applying or housing aid.

In recent years there have been noted results o con-ducting public consultations with regard to impor-tant city investments, which granted the consulta-tion procedure with the rank o a Krakw City Hallresolution. The rst public consultations with regardto housing investment were conducted during theimplementation o the SUITE project and with the

use o experienced gained rom this project.

3) Improvement o the system o rent

reductions and housing allowances,

including the breakdown o liabilities

into instilments and the possibility o

working o o rent arrears:

Apart rom the national system o housing allow-ances that enables some inhabitants to receive co-nancing o their fat maintenance costs, in Krakwthere unctions a system o rent reductions coveringtenants o communal premises.

The introduction o the system o rent reductions in2008 not only provided some tenants with low in-come with the possibility o meeting their rent pay-ment obligations, but also had a avourable impacton the Municipalitys nancial situation because theproceeds or the City budget rom the due rent orresidential premises increased. Another instrumentis the support system which enables breaking thenon-paid liabilities to the Municipality or using resi-dential premises down into instalments.

In 2010 another amendment to this system was in-troduced. At the end o last year an agreement wasreached by several municipal institutions which pro-vided unemployed tenants threatened with socialexclusion, who were behind with rent payments tothe Municipality, with the possibility o employmentand working o o the existing arrears.

On the basis o the above-mentioned agreement theSocial Integration Centre organises temporary em-ployment or debtors involving, or example, clean-ing or renovation works. Part o their remunerationis regularly allocated or the repayment o debt. Inthis way people in dicult living conditions have the


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opportunity to work and earn money, the Municipal-ity recovers rent arrears or fats, and additionallythe communal buildings are renovated and areascleaned.

Further possibilities in the area o proper manage-ment o housing resources should be provided or inthe Granit Integrated System or Property Manage-ment, an IT system introduced in 2009 or servicingthe housing resources o the Municipality.

Anticipated results o the

implementation o the Local

Action Plan

1) Strategic goals:

Liquidate the decit o fats to be populated,

Reduce the number and sum o damages paid by the Municipality to the owners o privatebuildings, whose occupants have received evic-tion orders with the right to social premises tothe minimum,Reduce the scale o conficts between the resi-dents groups and the representatives o interestgroups.

2) Short-term goals:

Full and possibly versatile usage o the premisesexchange mechanism, and the simultaneous in-volvement o the tenants and owners own re-sources at the possibly broad scale in order toimprove their own housing situation,Development o occupant assistance measuresconducted by such organizations as the SocialIntegration Centre,Prevention o conficts by the initiation o inor-mation measures conducted on a broad scaleand in the possibly varied manner.

The results o these measures can be achievedwith the minimum involvement o resources, canbe immediately applied, and are successively beinglaunched.

The continuation o the exchange programme andthe occupant assistance programme will help theMunicipality to save nancial resources thanks to theassumption o the cost o renovation or decorationo the premises by the tenants interested in living inthese premises. It also needs to be mentioned thatthe psychological aspect o this method o fat rent-ing becomes essential, because numerous experi-ences show that a tenant who has invested their ownwork and money in the assigned fat cares or thisfat in a better way than a person who has not madeany contribution upon receiving the fat.

These programmes may be popularized by the ex-

pansion and modernization o the Internet module othe Public Inormation Bulletin o the City o Krakwservicing the premises exchange, and should enableully interactive communication between the Depart-ment o Housing o the Krakw City Hall, which isthe organizer o the exchanges, and individual bid-ders who will become the direct beneciaries o theexchange programme.

At the same time special care will be given to the se-lection o tenants or vacant premises, mostly in theareas o greater concentration o fats or buildings atthe Municipalitys disposal.

There will be observed the principle stating that thequalication o tenants will be completed with theparticipation o the representatives o the DistrictCouncils where the buildings and premises or pop-ulation are located.

As beore, the selection o tenants at a given area willinvolve the consideration o opinions o other institu-tions that have conclusive inormation about the be-havior and needs o potential tenants, including, orexample, law-enorcement bodies, entities providingsocial help and some non-governmental organiza-tions. It needs to be stressed that such measuresare to integrate the members o various communi-ties that also include people threatened with socialexclusion (e.g. the homeless, wards o childrenshomes, the disabled).

As part o the conducted social integration, consid-eration will also be given to spatial conditions i.e.compliance with existing management plans, careor the proper quantity o green areas, recreationaldevices and playgrounds or children, the availabil-ity o parking lots, and the general aesthetics o thespace. What is more, public consultations will beconducted with regard to the next city housing in-vestments.

Thus populated locations will constitute places withriendly neighborhoods and the actor supporting theprocess o necessary integration or the inhabitants

themselves. They will also be desirable or, at least,peaceul neighborhoods or their direct surround-ings, i.e. other residential settlements or institutionsoering both public and commercial services.

As their numbers rise in time, the harmoniously de-signed and deliberately populated enclaves shouldbecome a actor not only positively shaping the spa-tial quality o the City but also avorably aecting itssocial abric.

The housing estate rehabilitation processes shouldalso be conducive to this end. The development oadditional orms o assistance or occupants, likethe possibility o working o o rent arrears that hasrecently been made available by the Social Integra-

tion Centre will help to counteract the social exclu-sion o people threatened with this phenomenon,will contribute to the improvement o the method omanagement o communal residential resources, willenable the rational usage o unds allocated or theoccupational activation o the unemployed, and atthe same time, thanks to the completion o renova-tion and cleaning works with the use o these unds,will have a avorable eect on the quality o cityspace.

Another asset is the possibility o reducing thenumber o orders o eviction rom the communal re-sources, because people who are behind with pay-ments will be able to undertake measures to preventthe eviction or eectively apply or the reinstatemento their legal title to the premises i the eviction hasalready been ordered.

Contacts:

For the LAP:Edward Siatka

[email protected]

For the city:[email protected]


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Local Action Plan o Medway Councilby Rachel Britt o the Housing Team, Medway Council

Background and Setting

Most UK local authorities have completed signicantwork in order to increase energy eciency, allevi-ate uel poverty and improve the level o decencyin housing stock. With an increased ocus on thesechallenging targets, particularly in the area o CO2reduction, local authorities are now looking at waysin which these targets can be met. This is againsta background o the signicant work already com-pleted and many o the quick win measures beinginstalled, leaving a dispersed mix o potential meas-ures across housing stock.

In addition, the diculty o measuring and moni-toring progress in areas such as CO2 reduction isa challenge. The UK ocial measurement or CO2reduction is National Indicator 186, which uses so-phisticated data collection and modelling techniquesto measure actual changes in energy use. However,they are produced with a two-year time lag and as aresult it is dicult to observe i activity is having aneect on energy usage.

The In Focus project seeks to undertake targetedhousing research across all o Medway, which canbe used to provide inormation on overall conditionsand trends but can also be interrogated down toan individual property level. Working in associationwith the Energy Savings Trust Advice Centre and the

Creative Environmental Network we have developeda detailed Medway-wide house-by-house database,which draws together a wide variety o inormationincluding data on:

House type, tenureHome Energy Check dataCouncil Tax bandIncome and benet entitlement

This inormation has then been used to model thepossible impact o improvements to housing stockand in particular it will allow us to ocus on the im-

pact o work to improve energy eciency.

The main aims or the project being to:

Improve housing standards, choice and aord-abilityImprove health, well-being and reduce health in-equalitiesReduce Fuel PovertyBring empty properties back into use

This work is at an early stage and will be deliveredover a 5yr+ period. Further consultation is currentlyunderway with the community to help inorm the de-velopment o specic projects in addition to workalready underway in the area, which is now being,picked up under the overall In Focus umbrella.

Map o the Luton and

Wayfeld Ward (district)Problem

The Luton and All Saints area in Chatham is an areao closely packed Victorian terraced housing and1970s built social housing. The steep narrow streetsare isolated rom the centre o Chatham by a dualcarriageway. Overall the housing within the wardo Luton and Wayeld is primarily owner occupied(41%). 39% o the properties are rented o which25% are tenants o a Housing Association, the larg-est o which is mhs Homes, with 14% o the totalstock.

In line with good practice and building upon previ-ous experience we are targeting resources into prior-ity areas, which have been identied using a rangeo data sources. This approach complements thecouncils Social Regeneration Strategy, which identi-es target areas or more widespread action. As parto the development o this approach, research was

shared and consultation and stakeholder engage-ment rom particular communities helped shape andinorm the approach taken. Luton and All Saints hasbeen identied as a priority area in the 2006 StockCondition Survey, the 2008-11 Housing Strategy andthe Social Regeneration Strategy. This is due to anumber o issues including a large number o emptyhomes, poor energy eciency, disrepair, homeless-ness, uel poverty and a large number o Houses inMultiple Occupation (HMO).

Through local survey work it was ound that in 2009there were 100 households rom the new arrival Slo-vak community across Medway o which orty-eightare clustered close together in the All Saints and ad-

jacent Luton neighborhoods. There is an average osix Slovak people living in each o these householdsand some o these households include more people extended amilies as well as children and parents.This has created a signicant and growing pressureon Medways Housing Services to address and man-age issues arising rom increased numbers o hous-es o multiple occupations and overcrowding in theLuton and All Saints neighborhoods. The situation isa growing problem in these neighborhoods.

Action Taken

The main strength o the In Focus project is the pool-ing o resources to build on existing work in the areaso that shared goals are achieved. The project issupported by the Strategic Housing PartnershipBoard (SHPB); a dynamic orum o key public andprivate players involved in housing that are broughttogether to help deliver decent and sae homes orall residents living in Medway. A sub-group o theboard, the Private Sector Housing Strategy Monitor-ing Group, is leading on the project and meet on aquarterly basis with progress reported back to theSHPB. The Private Sector Housing Strategy Moni-toring Group is chaired by the Kent representative

A.) Damage to Terracedhousing in Magpie Hall Road

B.) A typical terrace o housesin the district

C.) Elevated houses andwalkway in Luton Road

area with electrical and Gasservices on display

o the National Landlords Association, which hashelped to ensure that this is not just a Local Author-ity led project. Co-operation between various coun-cil departments and external agencies through thisgroup has been very productive. So ar public andpolitical support has been strong and helpul. TheCouncils Portolio Holder or Housing has a seat onthe SHPB and is thereore closely involved in theproject.

Key to the success o the project is a clear under-standing o local needs and ensuring that the com-munity is engaged and has the opportunity to helpshape and infuence local delivery. As part o thisproject we are liaising with the Partners and Com-munities Together (PACT) group which was set up asa neighborhood owned approach allowing local peo-ple to identiy those issues which impact upon thequality o lie on their doorstep and to work alongsidethe police and local agencies to nd a resolution.The In Focus project was introduced to the LutonPACT group in May 2010 where ward councillors,residents, the police and landlords were present.

In July 2009, Medway Council was awarded 88,103to help manage the transitional impacts o migrationthroughout 2009/10. The unding was used to pro-


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vide new migrant arrivals with better access to hous-ing advice and solutions and to ensure the availabil-ity o sae and decent homes in the private sector. Adedicated housing services adviser or new migrantcommunities was appointed rom the Roma speak-ing community. Operating in a neighborhood out-reach capacity, the adviser monitors and ensures thatnew arrival migrant communities residing in primarily

private rented accommodation have access to eq-uitable services and that the standard o accommo-dation is in line with Decent Homes Standards andHMO regulations. A neighborhood housing inorma-tion and advice service or new arrival migrant com-munities was also be established, oering supportservices in relation to housing, employment and wel-are entitlements as well as inormal legal advice andnancial management expertise oered by partnervoluntary and community organisations.

There have been no additional resources allocated

to the project, instead it concentrates on the poolingo resources and bringing together unding sources.

Outcome

In 2009/10, 42 empty properties were brought backinto use in the area with the help o 2.5 millionworth o unding rom the Homes and CommunitiesAgency. 23 households were re-housed to suitableaccommodation via the overcrowding scheme andnearly 400,000 out o a total budget o 1.2 millionwas spent on renewing 49 properties in the private

sector.

In September 2010, we carried out a targeted en-ergy advice campaign when a mail out went to 5,000residents in the In Focus Project area and neighbor-ing wards whose property showed a good potentialto install energy savings measures. An Energy Sav-ings Trust advisor who provided doorstep assistanceon energy savings measures then urther targetedaround 250 properties. Funding was secured romthe Department or Business, Innovation and Skills(BIS) to deliver a uel bill workshop oering adviceon reducing energy bills among low-income house-holds.

Between January and July 2010, 167 people weregiven advice at the housing advice surgeries with themajority o queries being Child Tax Credits, Hous-ing Benet and Private Sector issues. For the sametime period, inspections were carried out in 23 pri-vate sector properties.

The main challenge or the project is unding. TheCouncil has agreed to a 23.5m programme orevenue savings in 2011/12 in response to cuts in

Government grants and other budgetary pressures.Services are being reviewed to improve eciencyand to reduce areas o discretionary spending. Thesecond year o unding under the Migrant Impacts

Fund was withdrawn or 2010/11 and we have hadto nd additional resources within existing servic-es to und the specialist housing adviser services.Funding or the work carried out by Creative Envi-ronmental Networks has not yet been guaranteed or2011/12 and so this element o the project may notbe able to be delivered.

Welare benets, including housing benet, are un-dergoing radical changes. These could aect the a-ordability o housing in Medway or those with lowincomes, particularly in the private rented sector.Claimants living in Medway will lose an average o48 per month, compared to over 600 in afuentboroughs o London. This is likely to result in peoplemoving into Medway leading to overstretched serv-ices with less resources available, increased pres-sure on housing in the Private Sector and vulnerablepeople being hit the hardest.

We have to be realistic about what we can achievein this challenging climate. It is more important thanever that we ocus our eorts and resources in theright places and that the services we do oer operateeciently and make a real dierence. Governmentproposals to change the council housing nancesystem may give local authorities greater controlover their nances, allowing them to reinvest incomerom their homes to meet local housing need. Theproject will be re-evaluated once the Councils budg-ets have been set in April 2011.

Contacts:

Rachel Britt

Housing TeamMedway [email protected]


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Introduction

Cities are the ideal venue or social, cultural andeconomic advancement. The conditions or the or-mation o towns are well known: density o humanactivities, polarisation, i.e. the concentration o di-versied urban unctions and accessibility, which isto say moving around easily. To continue to grow byoering more services which are accessible to all,Nantes Mtropole has to organise these three condi-

tions across its territory: this is the challenge acinga territorial development strategy.

Within this strategy, housing is the cornerstone oquality o lie and o living our lives alongside one an-other. The housing issue is not limited to quantitativetargets. Rather, it has to be seen rom the standpointo an analysis o human needs and the way they cor-respond to the supply. Thanks to its skills and com-petences, Nantes Mtropole is seeking to developsustainable and innovative urban projects while en-suring exit prices that are tailored to the needs ohouseholds. This approach, initiated by the pilot op-erations, is in the process o being generalised to allthe operations across the Community.

1. Towards innovative and

sustainable projects

The Local Housing Program was an opportunity tohighlight a threeold phenomenon:

Urban sprawlUrban expansion which consumes a great deal

o landThe social segregation o the territory

With this in mind, a number o major strategic orien-tations have been selected to guide the joint action

undertaken by Nantes Mtropole and the munici-palities to search or a balanced development in thehousing supply and or maintaining the attractive-ness o the metropolitan area as a whole.

The expected results o this kind o approach are:

To advance the concept o density and contributeto its wider acceptance by policymakers and localresidents;

Create a positive image o more compact individual hous

suite synthesis laps 01

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