Exploring and improving access to housing in rural areas and developing the houses and villages of the future

1) Enhanced policymaker understanding of rural real estate and rental markets (including short- and long-term rentals) and their social impacts on rural communities. 2) Availability and widespread sharing of new solutions and strategies to improve access to affordable, quality and social housing in rural areas. 3) Deployment of affordable, sustainable, replicable, nearly zero greenhouse gas-emitting, climate-resilient and climate-smart houses and villages of the future that benefit rural communities. 4) Support for the long-term vision for EU rural areas, the European pillar of social rights and social fairness. 5) Empowered rural communities able to enact transformative change, aligned with Green Deal objectives and the EU social model.

Proposals must: 1) Analyse rural real estate and rental markets (short-term and long-term) – demand and supply sides – including stakeholder mapping and evaluation of housing quality and poverty. 2) Increase data availability using digital tools for settlement structures and buildings; perform a thorough study of abandoned or collapsing units and showcase best practice recovery and reuse. 3) Deepen understanding of affordable and social housing access, covering financial (access to finance, price affordability) and social dimensions (gender, age, ethnicity, disability). 4) Formulate actionable recommendations for policymakers to regulate rural real estate and rental markets and to foster sustainable, nearly-zero emission housing renovation or construction that benefits vulnerable rural populations. 5) Conduct participatory, multi-actor processes with rural stakeholders to co-design innovative, affordable, replicable future houses and villages that integrate climate adaptation and mitigation, intergenerational and multi-use concepts, advanced renovations, insulation, energy and water efficiency, local material use and circularity, and pollution and soil sealing reduction. 6) Build on existing research from the EU Rural Observatory and relevant Horizon Europe projects. 7) Encourage complementarity with the New European Bauhaus Facility. 8) Integrate social sciences and humanities (including gender studies) and, where relevant, services from European research infrastructures (e.g., ESS ERIC).