Housing corporations
A housing corporation is an organization that focuses on building, managing and renting good quality housing with an affordable rent for people with a limited income (social housing). Housing corporations often manage large parts of a city through their development and maintenance of large quantities of houses.
They hold a societal responsibility to provide good quality housing to those who cannot afford much. As developers and owners of the houses they thus have to balance climate-adaptive measures with the costs that those would entail. Being the owner of so many houses, they are in a position from which they could have a big effect on the climate adaptiveness of the city. That is why they are an important partner in making a city climate-proof.
Housing corporations are however limited by their legally defined task and responsibilities. Climate adaptive measures are only permitted as long as these investments relate exclusively to the buildings or infrastructural elements owned by and on the plot of land of the housing corporation, and therefore do not relate to a larger area. 1It is therefore a condition that climate change adaptation measures only benefit the own tenants of the relevant social housing units. The climate adaptive measures should be considered as part of the infrastructure of the dwelling. As a housing corporation, it is therefore not permitted to invest in public space.
Another barrier is the lack of a sense of urgency and knowledge of climate adaptation. Similarly, to the developers, better governmental laws and regulation, and consultancy from specialists could help in this respect. Municipal governments can also play an influencing role through their responsibilities of city planning and design. Lastly, letting market principles guide can also be beneficial. A common sense and basic expectations on climate adaptation plus minimal result demands could push stakeholders to be more innovative and competitive.