Deadline Date: September 15, 2026
The European Commission has launched the “Validating policies and business models for affordable and sustainable housing” topic under the Built4People Partnership to support research and innovation actions that improve the renovation and provision of affordable rental housing while advancing decarbonisation goals.
The opportunity focuses on understanding the factors influencing renovation levels in affordable rental housing, increasing the revision of policies and regulations by policymakers, researching the effectiveness of existing policies and support instruments, validating methodologies for comparing housing affordability across different markets and demographic groups, designing and validating improved policies and business models for affordable housing renovation, reducing the costs of deep renovation projects, addressing energy poverty, supporting climate-resilient and sustainable buildings, contributing to the objectives of the Built4People Partnership, and encouraging collaboration with the New European Bauhaus hub for results and impact.
The Renovation Wave strategy highlights the need to accelerate both the rate and depth of building renovations across Europe. Within this framework, affordability remains a central priority to ensure that energy-efficient, healthy, comfortable, sustainable, and climate-resilient homes are accessible to medium and lower-income households, including vulnerable communities and regions. The programme recognises the importance of evaluating how current policy frameworks influence affordable housing and energy poverty outcomes.
Applicants are expected to conduct research on existing policies, regulations, support mechanisms, and business models operating at local, national, and European levels that affect the renovation and provision of rental properties in the affordable housing sector. Proposals should also validate methodologies capable of comparing affordability across various local housing markets, climate conditions, and demographic groups, particularly for people in vulnerable situations. The call has a budget of approximately €15,000,000, with around €5,000,000 expected EU contribution per project.
The programme further supports the development and validation of new or improved policies, regulations, support instruments, and business models that can enhance affordability while still meeting the decarbonisation targets of the housing sector. Applicants are expected to quantify the impact of these solutions on the costs of deep renovations across different scales of housing projects and governance or ownership structures.
Projects funded under this topic are expected to contribute directly to the objectives of the co-programmed European Partnership on People-centric Sustainable Built Environment (Built4People). Selected projects will also be encouraged to transfer knowledge to the Built4People network of innovation clusters and contribute to monitoring partnership key performance indicators.
Eligibility for participation is open to any legal entity regardless of place of establishment, including entities from non-associated third countries and international organisations, provided that Horizon Europe participation conditions and any topic-specific conditions are met. Affiliated entities, associated partners, entities without legal personality under certain conditions, and EU bodies may also participate according to the applicable rules and provisions.
For more information, visit European Commission.
