Housing Work Package for HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-DEMOCRACY-05

Dezernat Zukunft and the EMPN can contribute a thematic work package on housing as a material foundation of democratic resilience and the Union of Equality. Affordable, secure housing shapes citizens’ ability to participate in public life, trust democratic institutions and withstand polarisation; conversely, housing stress can deepen inequality, exclusion and political disaffection. This makes housing a concrete entry point for linking equality, democracy and socio-economic policy.

Drawing on our fiscal-policy expertise, we would develop and communicate practical proposals for using the public sector’s strengths - especially low borrowing costs, coordination capacity and long time horizons - to expand affordable housing and reduce cost pressures. The work package would compare policy tools across Member States, identify regions of high concern with respect to housing stress and democratic resilience, and translate findings into evidence-based recommendations for regional, national and European policymakers. In combination with a companion work package on outreach, findings could be translated into policy briefs, workshops and stakeholder exchange, to connect housing research to broader debates on democratic resilience, inclusion and equal citizenship.

In doing so, we would show how better housing policy can support a more equal, more resilient European democracy.