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C O N T E N T SDecember 2008
Chronicle:Time o Crisis or Opportunity?Richard Hewgill, TPAS,Englandpage 2Tenants’ Day in the EuropeanParliamentpage 3Scotland: Right to Housing, areality or only a goal?page 4Italy aces increasing numbero poor households.page 5Hong Kong: Review over therst decade o handoverpage 6–7Living north o the Arctic Circlein Murmansk page 8–9Polish tenants have hadenough and take to the streets!page 10Fighting youth homelessnessin Australiapage 11South Arica: Rehabilitationand transer o social housingpage 12–13Istanbul, the melting pot oTurkeypage 14The agony o being a tenant inNairobi, Kenyapage 15England: dark clouds over social housingNorway: High costs o livingor key workerspage 16
 
 As people all over the World sit and worry about the current nancial crisis is it a timeor tenants to be even more worried than they have been about the uture or their homes ora time to hope or a better uture?The current world nancial crisis has itsroots in the American money market lendingtoo much money to buy homes at inlatedprices that people could not really aord. Thiscame at a time when worldwide there hasbeen a movement towards encouraging homeownership and moving social housing away rom Municipal and National ownership andcontrol. So what can we, as those concerned with tenants, learn rom this? We must usethis time to raise awareness o the need or adecent aordable rented sector in all coun-tries. Just as the IUT has always sought toraise awareness o this need we can now usethe current nancial problems to remind poli-ticians o this need. Whilst Governments willhave less money to spend i they ollow theexample o many and borrow to develop work and projects to stimulate their economies wemust press that some o this goes into aord-able rented homes.In England there is major concern that thecurrent model o subsidising social housing
 
P.O. Box 7514103 92 Stockholm, SwedenTel +46-(0)8-791 02 24/791 02 25Fax +46-(0)8-20 43 44E-mail: ino@iut.nuWebsite: www.iut.nuPublisher and Editor: Magnus HammarDecember 2008Publication Design: Peter BäckstamCover photo. Street scenerom Tarlabasi, IstanbulPhoto: Magnus Hammar, IUT
AustriaAustraliaBelgiumBeninBosnia-HerzegovinaCanadathe Congo (Dem. Rep.)CroatiaCzech RepublicDenmarkEcuadorEnglandEstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIndiaItalyJapanKenyaLatviaLiberiaMacedonia, FYRthe NetherlandsNew ZealandNigeriaNorwayPolandPortugalRomaniaScotlandSerbiaSlovakiaSloveniaSouth AricaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTanzaniaTogoUgandaUSAWales
IUT member organisations in:
Time o Crisis or Opportunity?
or rent rom new build projects will collapseand the need to build the case or extra directGovernment assistance to meet this housingneed has yet to be accepted. We all know thatmobility o labour orces and economic regen-eration are tied to aordable fexible housingand that a strong aordable rented sector isa key part o this. What better way to create work and stimulate economies than to directmoney into this sector.Too oten politicians orget that they are elected to steer government to help themajority o the people, and not just an eliteew. Now is the time to remind them o theirresponsibilities both within their own country and internationally as increasingly nationalpriorities are tied to global matters.Richard Hewgill,
Chair of TPAS England and board member of IUT 
Bengt Turner Award
To encourage new researchers to write research papers on housing and urban issues linked tothe topics o the ENHR working groups. To increase awareness o ENHR, and keep alive thememory o Bengt Turner.
For more ino:
ENHR, European Network or Housing Research, www.enhr.ib.uu.se
Calendar
2009
Jan. 20–21:
National Housing Management Con. & Exhibition, in Hinckley, England.
Jan. 29–Feb. 1:
“Housing Solutions Week” in Washington D.C., USA.
March 5:
Putting Tenants and Consumers First, a New National Tenant Voice, London.
 April 2–3:
Con. on “Family, Migration and Housing” in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
 April 21–22:
UN-ECE Workshop on Energy Efciency in Housing, in Sofa Bulgaria.
 April 27–29:
Annual Caliornia conerence on Aordable Homes, in Sacramento.
May 21–24:
Congress o CNL, Conéderation Nationale du Logement, in Lille France.
June 4–6:
Congress o Deutscher Mieterbund, German Tenant Union, in Leipzig.
June 26–July 1:
“Changing Housing Markets: Integration and Segmentation” ENHRconerence in Prague, Czech Republic.
July 31–Aug. 2:
TPAS England Annual Conerence & AGM, in Birmingham, England.
September 21–22:
UN ECE, 70th session o the Committee on Housing and Land Management, Geneva.
October 5:
International Tenants’ Day.
October 31–Nov 1:
Congress o the Danish Tenant Association, LLO, in Odense Denmark.
November 25–27:
The 6th National Australian Housing Conerence, in Melbourne.
For more ino:
www.iut.nu/conerences.htm
 
Since the opening o the IUT liaisonoice in Brussels, in February, ourorganisation has played an active rolein making housing more visible andimportant on the arena o the Europe-an Union. The International TenantsDay, also the UN Habitat Day, wasarranged on October 6 in partnershipwith UN Habitat in Brussels.
Some 110 delegates rom 20 countries hadmanaged to get to the Parliament build-ing in the morning in spite o the publictransportation strike in Brussels. HeleneToxvaerd rom Danish Tenant Association,in close cooperation with Barbara Steen-bergen rom the IUToice in Brussels, suc-cessully chaired the ourhour session. Distinguishspeakers took turn inspeaking under the con-erence theme;
Decent and  Affordable housing in the European Union 
.IUT President
SvenCarlsson
welcomed theguests, by highlightingthe importance o beingpresent in Brussels, as anactive NGO. IUT makesits voice heard amongsome other 2,000 lob-byists. Alone we mightnot be able do much,but together with otherhousing NGO:s, likeFEANTSA (organisationor the homeless) andCECODHAS (socialhousing providers), andtogether with the aca-demic sector and localauthorities – with a socialconscience, and tradeunions, we can make adierence! And not theleast, we join orces withthose members o theEuropean Parliament who recognize decentand aordable housing asan absolute human right!
 Jan Johansson
o the
Tenants Day in the European Parliament
Swedish Union o Tenants opened theconerence by emphasising the right orevery EU Member to orm its own hous-ing policies. “Public housing in Swedenis accessible to all, irrespective o income. And we would like to keep it that way”,said Mr Johansson.The key-note speech was delivered by 
MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
, Presidento the Party o European Socialists andormer Prime minister o Denmark. “TheEU treaty should be opened up or theRight to Housing”, declared Rasmussen.“Housing denitely belongs to our socio-economic rights and the welare states!” con-tinued Rasmussen to everyone’s’ approval.”I the Commission is serious about ghtingincreasing social exclusion in Europe, aord-sector has become landlords o people who can not pay mortgages. In England,uel poverty is a reality to many.
 Jean B. Bakole
, Director o UNHabitat Brussels, reminded us about theUN Habitat Agenda, and the Istanbuldeclaration which was solemnly signedin 1996. Both include the right to hous-ing. Mr Bakole also pointed out the actthat 90 % o all new population growthis in cities, and that 80 % o all CO
2
-emissions are produced in cities. Citiesproduce opportunities or many, but arealso unsustainable.Swedish
MEP Eva-Britt Svensson
 placed housing on the same level as edu-cation, public transportation and medicalcare, all human rights and thereore alsoable housing is one o the key instruments.Provision o housing is also closely con-nected with another EU priority, a fexibleEuropean labour market”.
Prof. Peter Boelhouwer
, Director o the OTB Research Institute approachedhousing rom an academic point o view,but started out rom the human rightsperspective by clariying that the Right toDecent Housing is a undamental humanright. Pro. Boelhouwer pointed out gen-eral housing policy trends; Restructuringo neighbourhoods, acilitating homeownership or new entrants and low income households, reinvention o thesocial rented sector – together with priva-tisation o the social rented sector and theprivate sector nancing social housing.
David Orr
, President o CECOD-HAS, spoke about the impact on housingthat has been caused by the nancial andenergy crisis. France and Spain had plansor new social housing, which have now been cancelled. In England, the socialthe responsibility o society. And housingor everyone can not be achieved withouta sucient stock o rental housing.
Dr. Franz-Georg Rips
, Presidento the German Union o Tenants, withsome 1,2 million members, summarizedthe day by again emphasising the rightto housing in the European Treaty. Also,Dr. Rips pointed out consumer’s rightto transparency o constantly increasingenergy costs, and the need or clear andobjective energy certicates or residen-tial buildings. Social exclusion is increas-ing and one way o combating this evilis to keep and the restore housing allow-ances or low income households.Dr. Rips wrapped up by inviting eve-ryone present, and others, to next years’Tenants Day October 5.
MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.Jean B. Bakole.MEP Eva-Britt Svensson.
 
Sign the IUT Petition on HumanRights or Sitting Tenants in centraland east Europe on www.iut.nu
Text: Magnus Hammar
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