The social and economic power of housing - how municipalities worldwide drive transformation through partnerships

German municipalities have a longstanding commitment to affordable housing, with municipal interventions often going back to the 1920s. Many cities and towns own housing companies, enabling them to actively shape housing markets in terms of social inclusiveness and long-term economic stability. Urban planning, rent regulation and modern building standards, all in the hands of municipal stakeholders, are potential game changers in tight housing markets. Their experience is of great value for knowledge exchange and close cooperation as part of decentralised development cooperation, i.e. municipal partnerships worldwide. The session focuses on what municipalities can deliver through the ownership of housing stock, municipal housing companies, and other urban development instruments. As the level closest to residents, municipalities are often the delivery engines; steering land use, permits, local infrastructure, and in many cases operating or partnering with social and public housing providers. Challenges range from scaling the climate-neutral retrofitting and upgrading of public and social housing to reconstruction and related municipal services and infrastructure. Municipalities are best placed to address these challenges, but they require enabling national and international frameworks to do so effectively. In this context, municipal partnerships have proven effective in capacity building and introducing and sharing innovative approaches and mutual learning. Practitioners will share evidence-based lessons on what works (and what fails) on the local level to keep housing affordable and resilient. The session is therefore built around a clear partnership focus. It demonstrates how existing and potential municipal partnerships can deliver on the need for affordable housing, and how municipalities can learn from each other through a coordinated partnership framework. Potential guiding questions: • To what extent can municipalities shape housing markets through their core instruments - and how do partnerships help overcome the limits of these tools in today’s market conditions? • Which housing solutions are genuinely transferable between cities, how can they be adapted to different contexts, and what are the biggest misconceptions when cities try to replicate models from elsewhere? • What do municipalities need to deliver more affordable housing, where do existing frameworks actively constrain local solutions, and how can international actors support without distorting housing markets?