Faced with a growing housing crisis and rising social insecurity, the City of Athens commits to developing a participatory digital housing matching platform under the OGP Local framework. This initiative aims to enhance transparency, rebuild trust between property owners and tenants, and facilitate the use of vacant housing units to support vulnerable populations. By integrating data, social services, and housing policy, the commitment reflects the values of accountability, social justice, and participatory decision-making, serving the City’s strategic goal of ensuring equal access to essential social goods.
Commitment Description
The Problem
The city of Athens is facing a serious housing crisis, as the demand for affordable housing far exceeds the actual supply. At the same time, many apartments (almost 1 in 4 according to the 2021 census) appear empty, while vulnerable groups - such as the “working poor,” refugees, single-parent families, and young workers - have difficulty finding accommodation that meets their income and social criteria. Often, distrust of potential tenants is a significant reason for a house to remain empty, while the positive will of aware owners in many cases remains unknown and untapped. The lack of collected and updated (if possible in real time) data on actual housing needs and available properties makes all efforts to date fragmented and ineffective, preventing the formulation of targeted policies and a direct response to citizens’ needs.
Status quo
The current situation is characterized by the absence of a unified mechanism for recording housing requests and available properties at the local level. Despite individual initiatives by civil society organizations and municipal services, there is no central digital tool that collects reliable data on housing needs and supply, nor an institutionalized mediation relationship between the two parties, a relationship that has been tested with good results for the needs of the “Housing and Work” program. Owners are hesitant to make properties available without guarantees, prices are increasing due to the lack of balancing mechanisms, tenants fear opacity in leases, while the perception of housing as a stock market commodity is gaining ground. The lack of cooperation between the public and private sectors, as well as the fragmented determinations of needs, limit the effectiveness of any effort to address the housing crisis.
Action
The commitment foresees the development of a digital matchmaking platform that will record citizens’ housing requests and owners’ available housing in an organized manner. Through this, the Municipality will obtain a comprehensive picture of demand and supply, while facilitating the connection of the two sides in cooperation with NGOs and social actors. The primary objectives are to improve transparency, to detect and organize the registration of owners who wish to cooperate with the Municipality of Athens to offer housing, to support the objective of the Municipality of Athens to create a municipally controlled housing stock, to utilize vacant housing units, to expand the cooperation between the Municipality and NGOs on housing issues, to strengthen trust between owners and tenants, and to promote targeted social housing policies. At the same time, the platform will operate under an open data regime, ensuring participatory decision-making and continuous evaluation of the results.
How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem?
The development of the digital platform will contribute to solving the public problem by unifying and organizing housing demand and supply data, allowing the Municipality to have a clear picture of the exact needs of citizens and available properties in real time. Through matchmaking, waiting times are reduced, transparency in leasing is enhanced and trust between owners and tenants is strengthened. The comprehensive recording allows the design of targeted social housing policies and the optimal utilization of empty apartments, limiting unjustified rent increases and social exclusion. At the same time, the Municipality of Athens is laying the foundations for the creation of a mediator role between owners of apartments that are not being utilized and housing-vulnerable populations, while creating a database of properties that may need renovation interventions, which can be launched through existing financial resources.
What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategic Vision does this commitment relate to?
The commitment to develop a participatory housing matching tool is linked to the long-term goal of the Municipality of Athens to combat social inequalities through open, transparent and evidence-based policies. The approach to housing as a social good, which requires the collection, cross-referencing and exploitation of data from different bodies and sources of information, as well as active participation of citizens, embodies the values of accountability, transparency, social justice and equal access. The commitment reflects the ambition of the Municipality to develop innovative solutions to address housing insecurity, guided by a participatory model of open governance that connects welfare policies with transparency policies.
Primary Policy Area
Safety Nets & Economic Inclusion
Social Accountability
Primary Sector
Land & Spatial Planning
Public Services - general
What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?
- Access to information
The digital platform will collect and publish aggregated, anonymous data on citizens’ real housing needs and real estate availability. Through open data (datasets, dashboards, API), every interested party - from researchers to social actors - will have access to a documented picture of the volume and geographical distribution of housing demand and supply in the Municipality of Athens. This transparency in the flow of information facilitates more effective policy design and strengthens citizens’ trust in government agencies. - Civic Participation
The initiative is structured around the active involvement of citizens, on an individual basis but also through bodies that represent them, both in recording housing needs and in monitoring the operation of the platform. At the same time, the platform will seek to be co-developed by Civil Society bodies that operate similar platforms.
- Technology and Innovation for Transparency and Accountability
The use of an advanced digital matchmaking system (demand-supply matching algorithm, geospatial data, API for interoperability) is an example of the application of innovative technologies with the aim of maximizing transparency and accountability. The continuous monitoring of indicators through real-time dashboards ensures that the technology does not operate in a piecemeal manner, but serves the principles of accountability towards citizens and social housing bodies.