Affordable Housing for All - Inclusive, Attractive and Sustainable Solutions for Housing and Energy Affordability
![EUI01_115_Budapest2.jpg Cover photo BUDAPEST AHA](/sites/default/files/styles/1000_x_600/public/ressources/EUI01_115_Budapest2.jpg.webp?itok=xPHROcV_)
AHA Budapest aims to deliver ‘Affordable Housing for All’ through an integrated approach that both increases the supply of affordable housing and provides new solutions to support people at risk of housing exclusion. A central component is the transformation of an unused non-residential public building into energy-efficient social housing. In parallel, a data-driven early warning mechanism aims to identify households facing rental arrears and energy poverty to enable new support services to be tested built on broad cooperation between public utilities, social service providers, and district municipalities.
About
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.
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About this resource
The European Urban Initiative is an essential tool of the urban dimension of Cohesion Policy for the 2021-2027 programming period. The initiative established by the European Union supports cities of all sizes, to build their capacity and knowledge, to support innovation and develop transferable and scalable innovative solutions to urban challenges of EU relevance.
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