"For some time now we are not only letting houses. Urban regeneration is more than bricks and mortar. The quality of life and social investment are an integral part of the regeneration process."
Housing associations (social landlords) acquire more and more experience with their special role in urban regeneration.
During the theme meeting, organised by ReUrbA² regarding this subject, it appeared that this role is special. On 29 and 30 November 2004 twenty representatives from the social landlords in England, Germany and the Netherlands met in Rotterdam (the Netherlands).

From their social objective, but also from the knowledge that quality of life in residential areas influences the value of their property, social landlords deal with the social and economic situation of their tenants and the residential area. They have an excellent position for this: they are working closely with the tenants, have a good knowledge of the local situation and are constant factors in the residential area. However, social investment is a fairly new activity for the social landlords. They do not always have the right employees and the necessary financial means. And how large are the investments in the social structure? "It does contribute to the value of our property, but it does, in all fairness, not balance the relatively substantial investment", said Mr. A. Hoornstra of the Dutch housing association Haagwonen.

The contribution of the social landlords to urban regeneration is large, but practice shows that often small-scale, tailor-made, projects are involved. This complicates the exchange of experiences. "However, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. There are enough good examples to learn from." The question of how to make the experience and the expertise available and accessible to other professionals, was a joint conclusion of the participants. This resulted in a request to ReUrbA² to assist with this.
Mark Reede, project manager of ReUrbA² promised to deal with this need of the social landlords. "We will involve this in the ReUrbA² method for urban regeneration. That method has to be seen as a means for the exchange of knowledge; we do not want the wheel to be reinvented time after time."
A lot of experiences were exchanged during the ReUrbA² theme meeting in Rotterdam. For example, how to deal with residents who have an antisocial behaviour. Is displacement a solution? Sometimes it is, sometimes it is not. The need to exchange experiences is considerable, especially regarding the local factors that influence the situation. The participants all agreed on one thing: "Effective social investment and the achievement of sustainability can only be achieved by long-term commitment to deprived areas. This requires long-term programmes." There is often friction with the involvement of the government though. "Long-term commitment from the government can come into conflict with the political cycle between elections."
The social landlords are concerned about EU intentions to harmonise the fiscal and financial systems governing the operation of social landlords in the various EU states. "Each country has a system that has evolved historically. Changes to the various systems could endanger the role of the social landlord: the provision of good housing for those who are not able to house themselves." The participants also wanted more possibilities for border-crossing activities.

Finally the participants formulated four recommendations. They ask ReUrbA² to

• facilitate the exchange of knowledge, expertise and good practice
• enable the use of available skills
• create a climate that encourages governments to enter into long-term commitments in order to achieve sustainable urban regeneration
• find a solution to the dilemma of EU regulation of social landlords without losing national identity and at the same time allowing social landlords to operate in border-crossing housing markets.

And people hoped for a sequel. Vincent McCabe of the National Housing Federation, England: 'We've just scratched the surface'.

>>> Complete text on findings and proposals
>>> The minutes of the proceedings
>>> Participants