We have won the most important social housing award in Europe! European Responsible Housing Awards They recognize our cooperative model as a real and scalable alternative to guarantee the right to housing from the community, without speculation and with self-management.

The Cooperative Housing Network —driven by Sostre Cívic and other entities—has joined Housing Europe, the main European federation of public and social housing. This gives us voice and strength to defend, from Europe, a new way of guaranteeing access to housing: community-based, rooted and transformative.

This June, we experienced a historic moment for Sostre Cívic and for housing cooperatives in Catalonia: we have been awarded the award to European Responsible Housing Awards 2025, in the category “More than a roof – support for communities with equal opportunities”. This is the highest European recognition for social housing initiatives promoted by Housing Europe, the European Commission and the International Tenants UnionEvery two years, initiatives that understand housing as a fundamental right are awarded. In this year's edition, 25 projects from 12 countries were selected as finalists, and the project of Sostre Cívic has been chosen as the best in its category by a high-level jury multidisciplinary and international, with technical expertise and social commitment, with senior officials from the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as the European Investment Bank and representatives of tenant organizations from across Europe.

This award recognizes our model as a real and replicable alternative to guarantee stable, affordable, collective housing managed by the community itself. It is a European endorsement of what we have been building for years: a cooperative housing model in right of use rooted in the territory and designed for people, not for the market.

European recognition comes at a key moment

The verdict was announced in Dublin during theInternational Social Housing Festival, the great meeting of the European public and social housing sector. And it coincided with another big news: 'Cooperative Housing Network', the state network of cooperative housing in right of use, framed in REAS Red de Redes and promoted, among others, by Sostre Cívic and the XES, is already part of Housing Europe, the main European federation in this field. This opens the door for us to have a greater and better impact on community housing policies at a European level.

The accession of the Cooperative Housing Network to Housing Europe, It comes at a key moment for housing policy in the European Union.. For the first time, the European Commission has appointed a European Commissioner with specific competences in this area, breaking with the traditional reluctance of the European institutions to intervene in an area previously considered the exclusive competence of the Member States. Furthermore, this incorporation coincides with the preparation of the future European Plan for Affordable Housing, an initiative that opens a strategic opportunity to include measures that recognise and strengthen the cooperative housing sector in right of use. During the Housing Europe assembly held in

In the words of the Deputy Director-General for Housing of the European Commission, Matthew Baldwin, our cooperative housing model in right of use is “a brilliant idea that can be scaled up and applied across Europe”A message that fills us with energy to continue working and demonstrating that housing can be a right managed by the community.

Housing cooperatives in Catalonia, an emerging benchmark throughout Europe

During the festival, we also had the opportunity to explain the Catalan model in two debate panels. On the one hand, we shared the stage with the Council of Europe Development Bank to explain the success of the 31 million euro loan we obtained to build 350 new homes on public landOn the other hand, we discussed the challenges of emerging models with examples that have been consolidated for years, such as those of Austria and Switzerland. This fact shows that our model is already beginning to be an emerging benchmark on an international scale.

Other Catalan entities such as the La Dinamo Foundation and XES also participated, consolidating Catalonia as a hub of social innovation in the field of cooperative housing on a European scale.

A roadmap for Europe

To Sostre Cívic, this award represents a European endorsement of the cooperative model i a warning to public administrations: courageous policies are needed that focus on non-speculative, community-managed models and focus on guaranteeing housing as a universal right. This award joins the World Habitat Awards 2023 and the Social Innovation Award of the European Commission that we received the same year. But above all, it reaffirms a central idea for us: that housing cannot continue to be a commodity, but must be a right guaranteed with cooperative, collective and non-speculative formulas.

As our colleague said Àngel Estévez when collecting the prize:

“This award is not just a success for Catalonia. It is a roadmap for cities across Europe that want to democratize housing.”

So, we return from Dublin with our heads held high, recognition for the work done and more eager than ever to continue building a real alternative to the real estate market. Because housing can be cooperative, it can be community... and it can also transform Europe.