Mr. Hubert van Eyk, Chairperson of the Committee on Housing and Land
Management
What is the most pressing issue in terms of housing in the UNECE region?
One of the crucial issues in terms of housing in the UNECE region is the
specific issue of high-rise residential buildings, particularly in
the eastern part of the region – I
am thinking of Belarus,
Ukraine, Russia of course, and a number of other countries. This
is a very important sector which
deserves much political and policy attention. It is already getting
some attention in a number of
countries but large investments are needed to upgrade that part of
the housing stock which is
quite a substantial part (around 30-40 per cent, sometimes even more)
of the total housing stock.
It is important from the housing point of view but also from the
point of view of energy saving;
much needs to be done to improve these buildings so that they become
more energy-efficient.
Another important aspect is the legal framework in which the organization
of maintenance and
refurbishment of these high-rise residential blocks is operating.
The legal framework is often not
sufficient to be able to take effective measures for maintenance
and refurbishment. The UNECE
was one of the first international institutions to recognize this
housing problem in the region, for
example by publishing guidelines for “condominiums”.
Is there any alternative to these high-rise blocks?
There is actually no alternative except refurbishment. Of course, they
could be demolished
in due time but this is certainly not a policy issue generally
speaking. In a couple of regions, for
instance in the eastern part of Germany, some of these apartment
blocks have been demolished
simply because there is no demand for them. But demolishing them
and replacing them with low-rise housing would be even more costly
and does not make sense from a sustainability point of
view. So refurbishment is what is called for and this is what
policymakers in the region are setting
their minds to.
Is there a "social problem" linked to high-rise building?
We should keep in mind the differences that exist between the eastern
and western part of
the UNECE region. If we look at the high-rise problems in
the western part, in old EU member
countries, we see in the first place that high-rise is not
a dominant aspect of the total housing stock,
although it can of course be very substantial in certain
regions, like Paris for instance, and other
big towns and cities. But the problem there is mostly not
a physical one, related to the physical
aspect of housing but a socio-economic one, concerning unemployment,
lack of education, lack
of integration, etc. which is often quite substantial. We
have such areas in the Netherlands as well
and this is also true, for instance, for Belgium, Germany
and the United Kingdom. But if we look
at the other part of the UNECE region, when we speak of high-rise
building it is often a physical
problem and apartments are still very much in demand among
housing consumers. So there is a
clear difference there, and I am quite aware that many policymakers
in the eastern part of the
UNECE region will certainly want to prevent circumstances
to arise as they exist in for instance the
region around Paris. This has come up in discussions that
we had in Geneva and I think they have
become very anxious and very keen on looking at that social
side of the problem, especially since
the widespread disturbances that took place in France.
What do you think of the UNECE reform?
I am very happy that in recent months constructive talks have been held
in the framework of
the external evaluation of the whole of the UNECE and that
in that framework, the position of
the Committee on Human Settlements will be maintained with
some slight changes which are
understandable. I am particularly happy that the work programme
can be continued in substance
as it was adopted at the last session, and that for example
the “country
profiles programme” will
be continued. Over the last couple of years this country
profile programme has shown that it is
an extremely useful and valuable instrument. About a dozen
country profiles have been prepared.
They have proved to be very important for policy formulation
and adaptation in the countries
concerned, and I think that this is particularly due to the
fact that in the first place they are of
professional quality, but also because they are publications
of a United Nations body which gives them the necessary authority
for national authorities.