The European Alliance for Collaborative Housing Meets in Brussels
The European Alliance for Collaborative Housing held its first meeting in Brussels on 24-26 February 2026.
Hosted by the European Community Land Trust Network (ECLTN) and Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB), the gathering brought together collaborative housing actors from across Europe to ensure long-term affordability remains central to the implementation of the European Affordable Housing Plan.
Geert De Pauw (CLTB) led a walking tour of Brussels CLT’s, including Ransfort and L’Ecluse, grounding the Alliance in proven community-led housing projects before convening at Arc-en-Ciel in Molenbeek.
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L'Espoir. Affordable cohousing in the first social passive house standard building in Brussels. ©CLTB
L’Ecluse in the background, the first CLT project in continental Europe. ©CLTB
Learning from Proven Examples in a Community Land Trust
“It’s hard to believe in something that we’ve never seen before. So that’s why we’re here, to show you that collaborative housing exists, and it exists right here.” - Giulia Barnhisel, ECLTN.
Giulia further highlighted the rapid growth of CLTs across Europe:
“In just 14 years, there are over 500 individual CLTs and more than 25,000 additional homes currently in development, nearly a five-fold increase from today to what’s currently in the pipeline.”
The meeting held at Arc-en-Ciel’s community space, brought together key decision-makers and organisations from the housing sector in Europe, including the European Commission, Housing Europe, UN-Habitat, FEANTSA, the King Baudouin Foundation, Van Leer Foundation and the International Tenants’ Union
Discussions followed the four pillars of the European Affordable Housing Plan, directly linking grounded practice to EU priorities.
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Geert De Pauw from Community Land Trust Brussels highlighted the need to recognise collaborative housing actors as structural partners:
“Collaborative housing actors are not asking for “a bigger slice of the cake”, but demonstrating that they are already “baking it together” in neighbourhoods across Europe.”
As the EU advances its housing agenda, recognising, supporting and empowering collaborative housing providers will be essential to delivering lasting social value.
The Alliance meets the Housing Task Force
Matthew Baldwin, Chief of the European Commission’s Housing Task Force, welcomed the dialogue at Arc-en-Ciel, underlining the importance of practical experience from the ground as implementation advances. The discussions set the ground for the Alliance’s first meeting with the Housing Task Force on the following day:
A practical exchange on how collaborative housing actors can help translate the European Affordable Housing Plan into concrete implementation.
This exchange marked an important first step in building a sustained partnership between collaborative housing actors and the Housing Task Force. Looking ahead, continued dialogue will be essential to ensure that collaborative housing models can effectively continue to deliver affordable, inclusive, and sustainable homes across Europe.
The Collaborative Housing Alliance meets representatives from the Housing Task Force.
The Alliance brings together organisations from across Europe, including the European Network of Community Land Trusts, Community Land Trust Brussels, World Habitat, MOBA, urbaMonde, European Student Cooperative Housing Alliance, NETCO project, Red Vivienda Cooperativa and Sostre Cívic.
The European Community Land Trust is actively researching how CLTs can scale through partnerships to better serve and empower communities. ECLTN’s 2025 State of the Sector Report, highlights paths forward with a broad range of partners, including local, regional, and national governments, the EU, housing associations and social housing providers, and funders.
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