The 5th International Social Housing Festival (ISHF 2025), an initiative of Housing Europe, gathered more than 2,000 delegates at Dublin’s Convention Centre from 4–6 June 2025. Since its inception in Amsterdam in 2017, the Festival has welcomed participants who – through sharing, tracking, scrutinising and imagining – have always adopted the widest lens possible in their collective vision for social and affordable housing. So from Amsterdam, Lyon, Helsinki, Barcelona and now here in Dublin, the Irish Council for Social Housing was immensely proud to provide this platform for generative thinking on housing, a fundamental right.
Over two-and-a-half days, more than 300 oral presentations, seminars, workshops, site visits social & cultural events were held covering topics such as climate adaptation, homelessness, net-zero housing, financing, and housing for vulnerable groups including young people, older people, and individuals with disabilities.
The Festival’s central theme, “Storytelling,” underscored the power of lived experiences in shaping housing policy and practice. Our first keynote on Wednesday focused, importantly, on poverty, housing and homelessness with powerful and deeply personal insights from Professor Katriona O’Sullivan. Katriona says housing gave her an opportunity to feel secure and build love. It’s the base from which all else fails or from which everything grows. Wednesday evening’s social Story Slam social event brought delegates ‘home’, and in the best possible way. Delegate storytellers shaped personal narratives and comic anecdotes of shared homes in early adulthood; buying that first home and giving birth to your children in it; early childhood experiences without love and care and, years later, discovering what home can be, mending broken ties and coming home. These meaningful insights articulated the bonds that are shaped through secure housing and supportive families and communities. This is the mortar, without which everything crumbles.
‘C’mere till I tell ya!’: Transformative Tales of Tenant and Community Engagement featured tenants and community advocates leading lively workshops on best practices in fostering vibrant, cohesive neighbourhoods. The festival hosted the European Responsible Housing Awards, recognising exemplary projects shaping inclusive, sustainable communities. The EIB Group took part with their their director Tanguy Desrousseaux leading a “fireside chat” with Frank Allen of the Housing Finance Agency and Kathleen Cottier of Fold Housing, highlighting €750 million in loans over eight years that delivered more than 5,000 affordable homes and 550 energy‑upgraded houses in Ireland.
Thursday morning’s keynote event saw Dr Jenny Schuetz, US professor, economist and author, reflect on the evolution of urban/suburban housing models that has concrete parallels with Ireland. She said we’re blocking out future generations in cities in favour of existing housing models and the preferences of established communities. She says that housing affordability isn’t a technical or economic issue. It’s a political one.
Scholars and planners from the Metropolitan Housing Observatory of Barcelona convened a seminar on the impact of short‑term rentals, comparing policies across Barcelona, Lisbon, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Luxembourg. These collaborative sessions aim to produce a shared publication reinforcing pan‑European housing policy coordination.
Site visits showcased pioneering housing developments around Dublin, spotlighting innovative co‑operative and social housing models aimed at young people, elderly residents, and tenants with disabilities.
It was an immense privilege to have Joanne O’Riordan speaking as our final keynote speaker at the ISHF – International Social Housing Festival 2025 Dublin. She said: ‘Our needs are treated as burdens rather than benchmarks. we need a binding legislative standard for the provision of accessible housing. It must work for all people with disabilities. And there is no publicly available data identifying that the (small) 7% accessible housing target has been met. What’s an activist? She asked. ‘We don’t need a movement of experts. it’s about how we connect to our neighbours and use our skillset. We are here to build an Ireland, not a country of ramps and pity, but a republic of dignity, rights and equal opportunity.’
The festival concluded with the ceremonial handover of a symbolic flag to Lisbon, the next host city, marking the official close of ISHF Dublin and signalling continuing international social and affordable housing engagement through to #ISHF2027
It is impossible to profile the 300+ events that took place. Thoughts, reflections and further discussion are continuing across social media platforms. So please stay involved and keep our collective ambition for social and affordable housing live! #ISHF2025