Affordable Housing for All - Inclusive, Attractive and Sustainable Solutions for Housing and Energy Affordability

Like many European cities, Budapest faces an energy crisis, which exacerbates an ongoing housing affordability crisis, and exposes new social groups to energy poverty and housing insecurity. In addition, the city’s social housing sector has been marginal, shrinking, and in disrepair for decades. To tackle this challenge, Budapest strives for a more attractive, resilient, and inclusive social housing system.

AHA develops an integrated service model which combines the repurposing of an unused non-residential public building into near-zero energy social housing and a unique early warning system to identify and support households at risk of energy poverty and housing exclusion. An experimental support scheme promotes flexible housing options, such as cohabitation and flat exchange arrangements for at-risk households. For example, homeowners living in oversized dwellings can share their home with those who cannot otherwise afford their own home. A revolving fund for providing retrofitting grants focused on energy-efficiency is also being tested.

The participation of tenants and other local citizens is actively encouraged, for example through inclusive design of the low-cost, aesthetic modular interiors planned for the new social housing stock. 

Ultimately, AHA aims to demonstrate a scalable solution for addressing challenges of energy poverty and housing exclusion, which repositions social housing as a financially stable, green, and aesthetic sector. The AHA consortium and its broader partnership covers a wide range of stakeholders, including knowledge institutions, professional NGOs, and private organisations (real estate companies, banks etc.) in order to develop progressive housing actions which can be attractive for private investors.