About – Dash Project

Background

Deliver sAfe and Social Housing (DASH) is a four-year project funded by the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Staff Exchange. The DASH project aims to generate new ideas about how to promote more sustainable and safer housing, and how to convert these new ideas into concrete housing products, processes and/or services using innovative methodological tools. Through collaborative research and peer learning, DASH facilitates the exchange of knowledge between different disciplines, sectors and nations. The project focuses on interdisciplinary learning and co-producing knowledge to develop innovative housing models that can provide sustainable and safe housing for all.

The DASH project seeks to gain a holistic understanding of the social housing systems at national and local levels. This includes examining administrative, institutional, and financial aspects of housing provision, as well as studying the unique characteristics of national and local housing markets. By analyzing legal frameworks, tenure structures, prices, affordability, ownership models, and financing options, the project aims to develop innovative and sustainable housing solutions. Through collaborative research and knowledge-sharing, DASH aims to create a platform for interdisciplinary learning and the co-production of ideas to address diverse housing needs. The project brings together academic institutions, local authorities, housing associations, and civil society organizations to leverage their expertise and experiences.

Goals and Objectives

The DASH project pursues three main goals. First is to develop a better understanding of local culture and traditions in housing provision (in administrative, institutional, and financial terms), as well as the specific characteristics of national and local housing markets (legal frameworks, tenure structure, prices and affordability, ownership structures, and financing options). Second is to co-produce knowledge about the specific housing regimes of each 2nd-tier city through thematic learning hubs and a learning network formed through individual secondments. Third is to promote a discussion within the network on the transfer of practices across different places by using innovative methodological tools.

The DASH project will stem from the following four main objectives:

Objective 1: Current state and newer developments. DASH aims to map accomplishments towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 in participating countries. This includes analyzing the housing market and housing stock, with a specific emphasis on social housing systems at both national and local levels, with a focus on second-tier cities.
Objective 2: Affordable, inclusive, safe and sustainable housing. DASH aims to gather best examples demonstrating the connection between theory and practice, focusing on the preconditions, organizational structure, and supporting institutions contributing to successful outcomes.
Objective 3: Learning about and coproducing. DASH aims to organize the knowledge coproduction by involving various stakeholders and summarizing the outcomes regarding housing regimes in participating countries and second-tier cities.
Objective 4: Disseminate results and experiences. It includes producing reports detailing lessons learned, instructions for practices, policy briefs, lectures, publications, and handbooks. Various platforms, including websites, newsletter and social media, will be used to maximize exploitation, providing stakeholders with a brief overview of key events, lessons learned and guidelines.

Research Questions

The DASH project seeks to answer six research questions by examining practices and innovative approaches that can effectively tackle present and future challenges in the housing market and the provision of safe and social housing.

Research question 1: What is subsidized housing expected to do in each country / city? What does subsidized housing look like (in terms of tenure, location)? Who are the key providers? What are the roles of the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors? Where do the subsidies come from? What models have been implemented (e.g. public-private partnerships, community land trusts, etc.)? Which competences do local / regional governments have in relation to SDG 11?
Research question 2: What are the main differences and commonalities between social housing systems (rationales, funding, regulation)? How do differences in sources of funding and regulation shape levels of provision and protection of affordability over time? Which groups find it more difficult to access subsidized housing, and why?
Research question 3: What is the newest development in housing / urban policies relevant to SDG 11.1 & 11.3? What sort of housing needs do individual cities face, and how do they expect to meet them?
Research question 4: How are key concepts such as “affordable”, “safe”, “inclusive” and “sustainable” understood in relation to housing provision in participating countries and cities, and among stakeholders? Moreover, to what degree are key principles implemented in 7 practice? How is housing provision linked to issues of spatial segregation and discrimination against marginalized groups?
Research question 5: How do those within academia and those outside it (residents, the private sector, NGOs, etc.) perceive the discourse around disadvantage, and how do they influence decisions in the private and public sectors?
Research question 6: What lessons can be learned for the future? Which cities are successfully achieving SDG 11? What enabled particular cities to include and / or empower disadvantaged groups during the decision-making process? Who were the main driver(s) of delivering affordable housing and did they meet any serious obstacles? If so, what were they?

Implementation

The DAHS project is composed of five work packages with the following content and tasks:

Work Package 1: Project management and coordination activities, includes the following tasks: establishment of internal governance, financial management, coordination of secondments, reporting, and external scientific advisory.
Work Package 2: Introductory and training seminar aims to provide a joint understanding of the methodology in the project with three related tasks: methodology development, training, and reporting.
Work Package 3: Housing demands/ housing needs: the future of local housing markets, includes the tasks of developing guidelines for reports on the local housing market and writing comprehensive and comparative reports on the local housing markets
Work Package 4: External cross-evaluation aims to provide an external examination of each local housing market by developing guidelines for external cross-evaluations, preparing cross-examination, conducting field excursions, meetings and debates on local housing conditions, and developing reports on the outcome of cross-evaluation
Work Package 5: Dissemination and communication through tasks of development of a dissemination and communication strategy, construction of a project website, establishment of social platforms, publication of a newsletter, organization of training schools, writing publication of scientific papers, organization and implementation of end conference, development of Handbook on lessons learned

Deliverables

Data Management Plan

Deliverables

Final report on DASH methodology

Cooming Soon

Report on local housing market

Cooming Soon

Reports on cross-evaluation

Deliverables

Plan for dissemination and exploitation including communication activities