Archive for year: 2014

Dr. Elga Molina Roig has been chosen from among eight participants in the “Would you like to know what I am researching?” contest that will be held during the URV Science Week 2013.

This week saw the celebration of the Seminar entitled ‘The Housing Markets of Southern Europe in the face of the crisis’, as part of the DAAD Project in Görlitz, Germany, at which the different participating countries presented studies on problems in their housing markets since the crisis of 2007, as well as possible future challenges, all from a multidisciplinary point of view.

Several of our researchers have attended the seminar and read papers. Dr. Héctor Simón gave a presentation on the regulation of the fundamental right to housing in some European countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, France and Germany) and analysed how the system of housing policies in place in each country allowed this right to be observed. Prof. Dr. Sergio Nasarre presented a comparative study of Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Malta on the one hand (countries with a low percentage of rented homes) and Switzerland, Germany and Austria on the other (high percentages of home rental), in order to highlight how certain points in the leasing laws have an effect on the size of the rental market. The pre-doctoral researcher Núria Lambea looked at the systems for managing social housing in Spain and the United Kingdom, highlighting the more conflictive aspects of the former and emphasising the most relevant aspects of the latter, underlining the existence of non-profit organisations known as housing associations, as the main providers of  social housing. Finally, we enjoyed the collaboration of the Doctor of the IGOP (Government and Public Policy Institute) of Barcelona Autonomous University, Guillem Fernández, who gave a presentation on policies aimed at preventing homelessness based on housing in Finland, Germany and the United Kingdom, highlighting the shortcomings, opportunities and possibilities regarding its implementation in Spain.

This week several members of the chair met with students of the URV’s MBA in order to assist them in their research into housing cooperative buildings with services, an alternative method to satisfy the need for housing that, having a strong social component, includes communal services and encourages interaction among users.

Rovira i Virgili University, together with the National University of Galway, FEANTSA and the Human European Consultancy, will coordinate the first official study of the European Commission for the promotion of the right to housing in Member States and the consequences of evictions. The proposal presented was the winner of the open competition announced by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Work, Social Affairs and Inclusion, being awarded a grant of one million Euros. The study’s aim is to study the social, economic and financial causes of the crisis, its current reality, its consequences  and the solutions put forward by each Member State.

Dr. Sergio Nasarre, Full Professor of Civil Law at Rovira i Virgili University and head of that University’s research group on housing, is a member of the project’s coordinating committee, also overseeing the work emanating from countries in Southern Europe, which have been hardest hit by the crisis. He will author the official report for Spain.