20-09-2007

The colloquium is the second of a series of three colloquia which stretches over an initial three-year period (2006-2008). The core aim of the series is to bring academics and practitioners together to reflect on the key challenges for social housing provision in Europe over the coming years. This second colloquium will look at the current confluence of processes of welfare transformation and demographic change and reflect on the role of housing provision in coping with changing demands in a context of decreasing role of the state, changing family patterns and failing markets. Keynote speakers include Prof. Peter Malpass (University of the West of England, Bristol), Dr. Sasha Tsenkova (University of Calgary) and Prof. Jesús Leal (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). Social housing practitioners will discuss the academic presentations and an open debate with the public will follow.

The seminar, which is organised additionally to the colloquium, will look deeper into the role of social housing and the integration of immigrants. Social housing organisations accommodate large numbers of immigrants and ethnic minority groups in most European countries. For this reason they are at the frontline in the implementation of integration policies and programmes. Through its sub-group on integration of immigrants, CECODHAS has identified the need to understand the main problems facing tenants and social housing providers in the effort to contribute to better integration. This seminar is an initiative of this sub working group, which aims to contribute to this goal by bringing together practitioners, policy-makers and researchers to reflect on best practices in the field of integration and social housing.

Barcelona, Spain