2024
European Affordable Housing Consortium (SHAPE-EU) and others
The "D3.3 Access to Funding Handbook," published in May 2024 by the European Affordable Housing Consortium (SHAPE-EU), offers a detailed overview of financing options for social and affordable housing renovation in Europe. It outlines various EU funding mechanisms, including repayable finance options, grant schemes, and technical assistance facilities. The handbook emphasizes the need to align projects with EU policy objectives to enhance funding opportunities and highlights a growing trend towards financial instruments and blending funding sources for broader impact. It includes case studies demonstrating successful funding applications and notes the increased focus on energy efficiency and sustainability in the 2021-2027 EU funding programs. Designed for housing providers, municipalities, and stakeholders, this handbook aims to facilitate access to EU funding, supporting the EU's Affordable Housing Initiative and Renovation Wave strategy.
This document is the "D3.3 Access to Funding Handbook" published in May 2024 by the European Affordable Housing Consortium (SHAPE-EU) as part of Work Package 3 of their project. The Consortium received funding from the European Union's Single Market Programme.
Key findings and content:
- The handbook provides a comprehensive overview of funding and financing options available for social and affordable housing renovation projects in Europe, with a focus on district-level initiatives.
- It covers various EU funding mechanisms including:
- Repayable finance options like the Recovery and Resilience Facility loans and the Just Transition Mechanism
- Funding to leverage private investments such as Cohesion Policy Financial Instruments and the European Energy Efficiency Fund
- Grant schemes like Cohesion Policy funds and Horizon Europe
- Technical assistance facilities
- For each funding source, the handbook provides:
- A general description
- Opportunities for social and affordable housing renovation
- Application procedures
- The document emphasizes the importance of aligning housing renovation projects with EU policy objectives and climate goals to maximize funding opportunities.
- It highlights the shift towards using financial instruments and blending different funding sources to increase impact and leverage private investment.
- Case studies and examples are provided throughout to illustrate how different funding mechanisms have been used successfully for housing projects.
- The handbook notes the increased focus on energy efficiency and sustainability in EU funding programs for the 2021-2027 period.
- It provides guidance on navigating complex EU funding landscapes and accessing resources through national managing authorities.
Context: This handbook was created to help housing providers, municipalities, SMEs and other stakeholders plan financial strategies and find suitable funding sources for renovating social and affordable housing. It is part of the European Affordable Housing Consortium's efforts to support the implementation of the EU's Affordable Housing Initiative and Renovation Wave strategy. The document aims to make EU funding opportunities more accessible and understandable for those working on housing renovation projects.