After three years of work and the presentation of the final Action Plan in January 2018 (read it here),  the Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Urban Poverty met for the tenth time to discuss the Action implementation progress. 

As an important condition for implementation, partners discussed the developments around the proposed post-2020 Cohesion Policy design. The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) highlighted the envisaged flexibilisation of programming and the enhanced coherence of the regulatory framework.

Regarding the status of implementation of the twelve Actions, the Action Leaders shared important updates, some of which are summarised below:

• In order to implement the integrated Actions on setting up a European network of national observatories and on developing data on urban poverty at EU level, expert support for a mapping of observatories will be contracted, aiming for a collection of best practices on methodologies. The collected evidence could be presented in the form of a leaflet promoting the good practices identified.
• Regarding the Action cluster on child poverty, the feasibility study on a Child Guarantee for Vulnerable Children is being carried out by Eurochild and Applica, with FEANTSA being part of the consortium as well. All deliverables will be made public.
• Action 7, the URBACT capitalisation project on the local pact for the regeneration of urban deprived areas, is progressing as well: four participating countries (France, Germany, Poland, Spain) have exchanged on multi-level governance approaches to urban poverty during a decicated meeting. An output paper is being considered.
• FEANTSA, leader of Actions 8 and 9, continues to emphasise the role of cities in combatting homelessness. A toolkit that provides a framework for cities to combat homelessness has been published, including guidelines how to collect better data. For 2019, a conference in Porto is planned with the focus on 2030 and the role of cities in combating homelessness. Additionally, FEANTSA coordinates trainings on the use of the European Social Fund (ESF) and is planning a series policy labs as well as a meeting on the right to housing.

The Partnership has decided to continue its work until June 2019.The Action Leaders agreed to meet once again to discuss the process of implementation, but will continue exchanging even after the last physical meeting. The Technical Secretariat will prepare a summary document of the Partnership’s achievements.