VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE ǀ 16 June (14:00-16:30 CET)

Housing is one of the most complex policy challenges facing societies nowadays. More than a home or a shelter, housing is also an item in balance sheets and a physical asset with an imprint on the environment. Rising house prices and rents in many parts of the world are placing an increasingly heavy burden on household budgets, especially among the less affluent social groups. Part of the challenge is that the supply of dwellings, including social housing, has not kept pace with strong demand, notably in the most sought-after cities and metropolitan areas.

At the same time, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed inequalities in housing conditions among population groups. Also, to the extent that changes in working habits and behaviour brought about by the pandemic are here to stay, they will encourage a rethink of urban development programmes, mass urban transport systems, the provision of services and amenities within metropolitan areas, and many other dimensions of housing policies that are at the interface of finance, urban planning, transport and social policies.

The OECD has launched a Housing Policy Toolkit to help analysts and policymakers make better housing policies. The Toolkit contains a report entitled Brick by Brick: Building Better Housing Policies that summarises the main findings of two years of analysis and evidence on several aspects of housing, including the design of a range of housing-relevant policies. The Toolkit also features a Dashboard of indicators covering outcomes and policy settings, and it is accompanied by Snapshots of the housing sector in different countries.

Agenda 

14.00-14.10: Opening
Welcome and introductory remarks by Secretary-General Mathias Cormann

14.10-15.25: Mobilising the OECD Housing Policy Toolkit to future-proof housing markets
Presentation of the OECD Housing Policy Toolkit by Luiz de Mello, Director of Policy Studies, OECD Economics Department, followed by a roundtable discussion.

15.25-16:35: Investing in affordable and social housing to facilitate an inclusive economic recovery
Presentation of the OECD Affordable Housing Database, by Stefano Scarpetta, OECD Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, followed by a roundtable discussion.
  
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WEBINAR ǀ 10 December (16:00-17:30 CET) 

The COVID-19 crisis has revealed and often aggravated the housing challenges many OECD cities were already struggling with before the pandemic. While local and national governments have deployed emergency measures to secure shelter, such temporary measures will not be enough in the long term.

As part of the Champion Mayors Webinar Series “Inequality Matters”, this event focused on how the COVID-19 crisis is changing housing needs in cities and what local and national governments can do to offer more affordable, sustainable and adequate housing for all. Visit the dedicated webinar web page.