On 1 April 2025, the historic Ghent City Hall hosted a vital conversation about Europe’s housing future. Political leaders, housing advocates, and local stakeholders came together to address a growing crisis: across European cities, housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable, environmentally unsustainable, and socially unjust. But through innovative, community-based models like Upcycling Trust, a new path is taking shape, one rooted in circularity, solidarity, and long-term resilience.
A Shared Crisis, a Local Response
The first half of the conference focused on Europe’s housing challenges: substandard conditions, high emissions, and widespread displacement. Instead of relying on expensive new construction, speakers presented innovative models that make better use of existing resources.
At the centre of this discussion was Upcycling Trust, supported by the Interreg NWE programme. This model links circular renovation with community land stewardship to create permanently affordable housing from the existing building stock, without the need for resource-intensive new builds. By integrating homes into Community Land Trusts (CLTs) and Organismes de Foncier Solidaire (OFSs), which separate land ownership from housing, the model counters speculation and ensures long-term affordability.
This combination of decarbonisation and decommodification maximises public investment by delivering multiple returns:
- Deep energy renovations with circular methods that support climate goals
- Protection from displacement through secure tenure
- Permanently affordable housing from the existing building stock
- Community ownership that fosters local resilience and cohesion
Learn more about Upcycling Trust
Five Pilots, One Goal
The conference also offered a chance for project partners to share concrete progress from five pilot sites across Europe, each led by local organisations and tailored to distinct urban contexts:
- Brussels, Belgium → Led by Community Land Trust Brussels, the pilot supports the renovation of owner-occupied homes in vulnerable neighbourhoods and their integration into the CLT model, securing long-term affordability.
- Lille, France → LMH, with the support of the City of Lille, Habiter 2030 and the Métropole de Lille, are setting up the renovation of social and privately-owned housing units from the 1950s, in a low-income neighbourhood. They aim to trigger grouped renovations while expanding the implementation of the OFS model.
- Rennes, France → Developed in partnership with the Metropolis of Rennes and regional stakeholders, this pilot aligns with broader municipal strategies for housing and urban resilience, particularly in neighbourhoods composed of large condominiums facing speculative pressure.
- Ghent, Belgium → Led by CLT Ghent, this pilot transforms a fire-damaged, vacant building into mixed-use cooperative housing, highlighting co-ownership and material reuse as key components of circular renovation.
- Cork, Ireland → Coordinated by Self-Organised Architecture, the project is in the planning phase and will focus on reactivating underused or vacant properties to deliver climate-smart, community-led, and socially secure housing.
A European Perspective
After local partners presented updates on each pilot, Matthew Baldwin, Director of the European Commission’s Housing Task Force, offered a policy perspective. Citing President Ursula von der Leyen, “If affordability of housing is a struggle for Europeans, it is a struggle for Europe as well”. He highlighted the EU’s growing recognition of bottom-up solutions like CLTs and OFSs.
Baldwin underscored upcoming opportunities for support, including the European Affordable Housing Plan set to launch in June 2025. He encouraged projects like the Upcycling Trust to seize this moment to scale their impact. Funding avenues mentioned included the EU Social Climate Fund, Regional Development Funds, and promotional banks.
Further remarks by Keti Tskitishvili (Executive Director, ECLTN) and Sorcha Edwards (Secretary General, Housing Europe) reinforced the role of CLTs in ensuring a just transition, one that places social justice at the core of climate and housing policies. Both recognised the Upcycling Trust as a best-practice model with the potential to inspire broader policy reform across Europe.
From Vision to Implementation: Panel Reflections
The afternoon panel, moderated by Dali Malnoury (CLT Brussels), focused on the practical realities of combining renovation, affordability, and inclusion. Speakers shared concrete lessons from their work.
For instance, Hilde Reynvoet (City of Ghent) stressed that housing isn’t just a personal issue, it’s a shared responsibility. She urged local governments to be ambitious, not only in improving comfort but in ensuring long-term affordability. Gilles Guillaume (SAAMO Gent) spoke about the challenges of making CLT renovations work in practice. Projects need upfront financing, legal and technical support, and close collaboration with residents. Moreover, Waldo Galle (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) warned against quick-fix renovations that cut corners. For him, sustainability means designing for the long term, using durable materials and thinking through the full life cycle of buildings. Ailbhe Cunningham (SOA, Cork) highlighted the need to rethink the building sector itself. She argued that reuse, circular methods, and stronger community roles are key to delivering sustainable and affordable homes.
The panel also looked at how to involve residents meaningfully, build trust, and develop financial tools that don’t just serve big developers but actually support grassroots, community-led initiatives.
Toward a Just and Green Housing system
The Ghent conference made one thing clear: Europe cannot solve its housing and climate crises with ‘business as usual’. The Upcycling Trust model offers not just a renovation strategy, but a systemic rethink, of how we invest public money, structure ownership, and build community resilience.
By aligning policy at local, national, and EU levels, and investing in proven, people-centred solutions like CLTs and OFSs, Europe can move toward a housing future that is equitable, sustainable, and inclusive, one renovation at a time.