Policy Review: Social housing policies to support access to adequate and affordable housing

The European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, hosted a two-day online policy review titled ‘Social Housing Policies to Support Access to Adequate and Affordable Housing,’ held on 25–26 June 2025. The event was attended by over 50 participants with delegations from the relevant Ministries, public authorities, as well as municipalities and some NGOs from Armenia, Albania, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Policy reviews offer a great opportunity for countries from the Eastern Partnership region and the Western Balkans to exchange experiences about ongoing reform processes and improve existing policy solutions, through joint reflections on what works well, and what does not work well. This particular policy review focused on social housing policies aimed at providing affordable and decent housing for groups in a vulnerable situation in the Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership countries. We heard from Tigran Jrbashyan, Expert for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and Banush Shyqeriu, Leader of the Project Management Unit, Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning, and Infrastructure of the Republic of Kosovo about their ongoing efforts and commitment to strengthen social housing. Other participating countries also shared their experiences about the effectiveness of various policy instruments to support access to social housing, as well as common challenges. Throughout the event, promising practices and lessons learnt from the EU and beyond were shared, also by our excellent speakers:

• Alice Pittini, Research Director, Housing Europe on the European perspective on social housing policies;
• Bojan-Ilija Schnabl, Expert, Strategic Projects and international Affairs in City of Vienna, Austria on Vienna’s holistic approach in affordable housing policy;
• Grzegorz Gajewski, Policy Officer, Housing Task Force, European Commission on investments in social housing and services with support of EU funds;
• Samir Kulenovic, Senior Technical Advisor, Council of Europe Development Bank on Financing and implementing inclusive housing

We will prepare a summary report on the key takeaways of the event and publish on the European Centre’s website soon!