METREX at the International Social Housing Festival 2023

8 June - 2023 , Barcelona

A Metropolitan Approach to Sustainable Social Housing

13:40-16:00 CEST, Barcelona

METREX hosted a session on 8 June to launch a new Expert Group on Sustainable Affordable Housing. Read more about our new Expert Group.

The launch event featured the following Members, who each gave a 3-minute pitch on their housing competences:

  • Kees Dignum, City of Amsterdam
  • Joseph Maria Borrell, IMPSOL/AMB
  • Dr. Claudia Murray, Henley Business School at University of Reading
  • Henk Bouwman, Secretary General of METREX

The International Social Housing Festival (ISHF) is an initiative by Housing Europe, the European Federation of Public, Cooperative and Social Housing, and its members and allies, present in 25 countries and encompassing 25 million dwellings, 11% of the housing stock in the European Union.

The first edition of ISHF took place in Amsterdam in 2017 and was attended by some 1,300 people in a total of 45 events over 2 days. The second edition was organized in Lyon in 2019 and involved some 5,000 participants and 70 events over 4 days. The third edition planned for 2021 had to be postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic and finally took place in June 2022 in Helsinki, where about 1,000 people participated in 80 different activities over 3 days.

ISHF is a unique opportunity for discussion between Housing Europe member organizations and especially between them and the different stakeholders working in the housing field: research institutions, professionals, local authorities, residents and activists, among others. It also represents a timely occasion to articulate the housing sector and to foster collaboration and technical exchange at the international level.

More information


Photo by Nick Night on Unsplash