2017 has been an important year for public, social and affordable housing around the world. Global trends like climate change, increasing inequality, emerging migration and political instability have had direct effect on the way people live -and in particular on those with little to spend. ‘Pressure’ appeared to be the keyword for affordable housing providers around the world.

The job of Housing Authorities just got more difficult. While societal inequality increases and the amount of vulnerable people is steadily high, housing authorities faced budget cuts and further limitation of work scope. The Grenfell disaster, unfortunately the biggest event that social housing in 2017 will be remembered for, just illustrates what a tightrope act providing social housing in 2017 was.

But 2017 was a year of hope, too. We in particular got very enthusiastic when we joined the first International Social Housing Festival (ISHF) in Amsterdam, initiated by a bottom-up initiative, attracting 1300 housing professionals and activists from all over the world. At this festival we enjoyed the enthusiasm and dedication of many, all trying to invent new housing solutions that respond to emerging trends like migration, segregation within cities and diversity among tenants. After 9 days and 45 separate events and nummerous interesting encounters, we returned home inspired.

It’s this international vibe, fuelled by enthusiasts on housing strategies, that made us start ^HousingFutures, our global platform on housing strategies. From the very beginning our objective has been clear: sharing knowledge, best-practices and enthusiasm on housing solutions. And we enjoyed ourselves! Not only brought it insights and knowledge, it also allowed us to get in touch with many inspiring people. And we are only just beginning!

This week we will look back on ^HousingFutures’ articles of 2017. Out of the many interesting articles that we could publish, we distinguished three ‘red threats’. Topics that we somehow kept on writing about: homelessness, migration and collaborative housing.

We would like to thank all writers that submitted their articles. We hope to remain your platform! And we would like to thank you, our readers. As you kept on following us steadily, we truly believe that there is a need for an international platform on housing like ours. Hope to see you again next year!

We hope to keep on covering innovative practises in the housing industry. Do you have an interesting story to share ? Don’t hesitate to approach us! info@housing-futures.org