Athens Housing Symposium | Curing the Limbo
Channel: συνΑθηνά - synAthina
Date: 2021-07-09

Forging social cohesion
An affordable housing approach

The European pilot program Curing the Limbo of the City of Athens and Catholic Relief Services jointly organized the International Symposium on Affordable Housing - ‘Forging Social Cohesion: An Affordable Housing Approach’. The Symposium took place on April 15th-16th, 2021. 

“Curing the Limbo” has been a pilot program implemented between 2018 and 2021 in the city of Athens. Its objective was to test a dynamic and innovative model for integration that supports refugees to become socially active. The program involved supporting refugees with language and technical skills, access to affordable housing, psychosocial support, and job counseling services. Refugees also had the opportunity to interact with active citizen groups and become involved in city initiatives. As a result, refugees could be enabled to exit their “limbo” state and integrate into city life. 

As part of the program, Catholic Relief Services developed an affordable housing model to assist refugees successfully transition from temporary emergency assistance to independent living. With the program drawing its close, CRS and the City of Athens are organizing this Symposium to bring together a broad range of experts and stakeholders to share their knowledge and experiences in delivering housing solutions for refugees and other vulnerable groups in Greece and in the wider European context.  In doing so, CRS and the City of Athens hope this Symposium can inform and improve the development and implementation of future housing models particularly in Greece. 

Curing the Limbo (2018-2021) was a European pilot program of the City of Athens implemented with the strategic partnership of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UoA), the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency (ADDMA). This project was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) initiative.

www.curingthelimbo.gr