Try discussing housing affordability without mentioning the financialisation of real estate property. This key concept has affected the general housing conditions in many countries - big funds buying tens of thousands of homes, expanding mortgage market that drives up prices, constantly increasing rents, gentrification and pricing people out. The financialisation of housing can easily sound complex, so we have invited someone who can explain it even to a grandma.
You are with ‘Making a house a home’ - the podcast of the European federation of public, cooperative and social housing providers, Housing Europe. This is the 11th podcast of Housing 2030, the joint initiative of UNECE, UN-Habitat and Housing Europe that aims at bringing the best out of land and environmental policy, governance and finance to deliver housing affordability. I am Diana Yordanova and in this episode, we will look at the virtue of adequate funding and finance or more specifically, how governments can get to grips with the financialisation of homes.
The guest of the show today is Professor Manuel Aalbers who is a human geographer, sociologist and urban planner teaching at the prestigious KU Leuven University in Belgium. His main research interest is in the intersection of housing and finance which as you will hear, has turned into one of the biggest challenges of our time that we need to solve if we want our communities to thrive.
Manuel Aalbers will join the main panel of the upcoming Housing 2030 conference ‘Shaping investment pathways to deliver affordable housing’ which will take place online on 14th April. Last registrations are open at www.housingeurope.eu and www.housing2030.org. We are also curious to hear your thoughts, so feel free to reach out to us on communications@housingeurope.eu or via the #Housing2030 hashtag.