“There is a lobby and there is a lobby,” says Barbara Steenbergen at ISHF – International Social Housing Festival 2023 side event ‘Towards a just housing system’. Some lobby for the good, some to make a profit. Barbara, head of the International Union of Tenants (IUT) liaison office in Brussels, lobbies for the good, for the interests of tenants across Europe. She speaks directly to the tenants in the room: ‘your landlord is always on the steering wheel. No matter where you are. Be careful which actions he will take with your rent.’
IUT itself cannot directly intervene in the interaction between tenant and landlord. Instead, Barbara talks with national and local governments all across Europe to call for:
- Public funding concentrated on public, affordable, cooperative, and social housing as well as on affordable private rental apartments with mandatory rent caps. ‘No cap no cure’, she says.
- Moratoria on evictions against tenants who have fallen behind with their payments.
- Policies on energy renovations to not negatively affect tenants leading to gentrification displacement and ‘renovictions’.
- Maximum level of institutional tenants’ participation, ensuring a level playing field with landlords and housing providers.
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(this article is part of a series of blog articles for the ISHF live blog website, in collaboration with Housing Europe)
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