2023
This document discusses the holistic evaluation of housing projects in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It emphasizes the importance of access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing, particularly for lower-income and vulnerable groups, a focus that has been central to the Council of Europe Development Bank's (CEB) mandate since 1956. The traditional evaluation of housing projects has primarily measured physical outputs, such as the number of dwellings built. However, this paper advocates for a comprehensive evaluation approach that considers the broader impacts of housing on beneficiaries and their communities. This includes assessing not only the physical aspects of housing but also the direct and indirect effects on health, finances, and education, as well as the long-term impacts on neighborhoods and the environment. Understanding these complexities is essential for ensuring sustainable housing investments.
Evaluation Perspectives is a Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) publication series prepared by the CEB’s Office of Evaluation (EVO) aimed at disseminating knowledge and evidence-based learning on contemporary topics related to the CEB’s social development mandate from an evaluation perspective. The first issue of the series is dedicated to the theme of housing. Access to housing remains a critical societal issue in many CEB member countries due to a variety of factors including a growing urban population, surging housing prices and urban transformation trends which exacerbate social inequalities. The 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN) in September 2015 both address housing: SDG 11 is aimed at creating inclusive and sustainable cities and communities, and defines “access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing” as a core target. The financing of housing for lower income and vulnerable groups has been a distinguishing feature of the CEB’s mandate since the Bank’s inception in 1956. The evaluations of CEB-financed social housing projects, including a multi-year evaluation cycle completed in 2019 focusing on housing for vulnerable groups, brought to light a number of valuable lessons which, if considered in the design of future projects, may enhance the social impact of housing operations. The evaluation of housing projects has traditionally focused on built structures by measuring results and success in terms of number of dwellings built or construction quality and costeffectiveness. Housing is in fact part of a broader and complex urban setting where housing investments always have major effects that go beyond the physical investment itself, as demonstrated by the series of evaluations undertaken by EVO. One criterion used by EVO for these evaluations is “the continued and voluntary habitation by the beneficiary population in the housing provided by the project, under safe, affordable and adequate conditions”, which is fully aligned with the first target of SDG 11. This paper makes a case for a comprehensive, holistic evaluation of housing projects that goes beyond the physical intervention. This holistic evaluation is based on a three-level approach. The first-level assessment relates to the physical fabric of the dwellings. Second-level results encompass the direct and indirect effects of housing on beneficiaries, such as the impact on their health, household finances, employment or education. Beyond the effects on the beneficiaries themselves, housing projects often have third-level impacts on the surrounding neighbourhoods, the wider economic and social fabric or the natural environment. Such third-level effects do not necessarily materialise in the short or medium run and may appear in the longer term. Moreover, the effects are not always positive; some of them are predictable while others are not. Some are intentional, but these may be outweighed – positively or negatively – by unintended impacts. Understanding this complex range of effects is necessary in order for housing investments to be sustainable from a human, social, environmental and institutional point of view.