Estonian national high level event addressing housing affordability
Seminars
Organised by the ESPON Estonian contact point
May 15, 2025 · 11:00pm CET
Estonian National Museum, Muuseumi tee 2, 60532 Tartu, Estonia
In-person Event
In recent decades, housing prices have risen faster than the income in almost all around of Europe. The housing crisis is deepening, with more and more people finding it difficult to purchase or rent the home and to cope with rising housing costs. Estonia is the country with the highest increase in housing and rental prices in Europe. The rise in housing prices and the availability of modern housing are affecting larger urban regions, but also cities and municipalities outside growth centers that are facing population decline, a depleted housing stock and a shortage of modern amenities. How can these processes and market failures overcome? What kind of housing policy does the country need?
The ESPON special session at the Estonian Planners Conference provides an overview of the changes that have occurred in the housing market of European countries based on the ESPON flagship research project HOUSE4ALL (Access to affordable and quality housing for all people). It shows what the lack of planning in the housing market has eventually led to. A joint discussion will summarize which housing policy techniques and interventions could help to improve the situation.
Presentations:
1. Ivo Jaanisoo (Ministry of Climate) – Possibilities to influence housing availability and affordability through national housing policy
2. Ingmar Pastak (ESPON Estonian Contact Point) – ESPON pan-European housing availability survey (ESPON HOUSE4ALL)
3. Anneli Kährik (University of Tartu, ESPON HOUSE4ALL Baltic case study) – Housing affordability trends in Estonia
4. Mark Aleksander Fischer (Estonian Academy of Arts) – Affordable city – an architect’s view
5. Panel discussion
Moderator: Aet Ader (The head of Estonian Association of Architects)
Participants in the panel discussion:
• Ivo Jaanisoo (Ministry of Climate)
• Garri Raagmaa (University of Tartu, EE ECP)
• Anneli Kährik (University of Tartu, ESPON HOUSE4ALL Baltic case study)
• Mark Aleksander Fischer (Estonian Academy of Arts)
• Kristi Grišakov (Tallinn City Planning Department)
Conference agenda: https://planeerimiskonverents.ut.ee/i-paev-15-mai-2025/
Watch the recording: https://uttv.ee/naita?id=36987
