Consultant for Housing Conditionalities

The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is the leading international think tank on business and human rights. IHRB’s mission is to shape policy, advance practice, and strengthen accountability in order to make respect for human rights part of everyday business.

Overview

Project: Taskforce on Affordable and Sustainable Housing (TASH)

Contract Type: Part-Time Consultancy (Fixed-term)

Budget: EUR 50,000 (all-inclusive)

Time commitment: 2 days a week

Duration: January - December 2027

Reporting to: Head of Responsible Building & Value Chains, IHRB

Location: Brussels

Application Deadline: 22 November 2026, 23:59 UK time

The EU and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are set to invest more public money in housing than at any point in their history, much of it through the Pan-European Investment Platform (PEIP) for Affordable and Sustainable Housing. Research by the Taskforce on Affordable and Sustainable Housing (TASH), co-founded by IHRB, The Shift and the Predistribution Initiative (PDI), suggests that much of this money will result in minimal emission reductions and significant rent increases fuelling the backlash against building decarbonisation.

In spring 2026, TASH brought together investors, CSOs, and policymakers to discuss social, environmental and governance conditionalities for EU-funded housing. Investors highlighted that regulations and conditionalities aren’t a problem: the problems are uncertainty or regulatory volatility. The European Commission has now confirmed that conditions will be attached to these funds. What they will be, and which instruments will carry them, will be decided over the next 12-18 months.

This is where this consultancy comes in: supporting TASH’s work in 2027 with technical expertise on EU finance and a presence in Brussels to influence key decision-makers.

Role Overview

The Brussels-based consultant will be responsible for building support among investors and EU institutions for an ambitious set of conditionalities on EU and EIB housing finance.

The consultant will also contribute to other activities, led by TASH partners.

The successful candidate will be able to discuss guarantees, lending criteria, and safeguards in technical depth with both investors and officials and will be trusted by both. The emphasis of the role is on relationships and influence rather than written outputs.

This opportunity is only open to individuals and not to organisations.

The consultant will primarily report to IHRB (contact point: Head of Responsible Building and Value Chains) but also to The Shift (contact point: European Project Director) for the work on the Pan-European Investment Platform for Affordable and Sustainable Housing (PEIP).

Key Responsibilities

The consultant will lead three areas of work.

1. Policy mapping

Map the legal and political vehicles through which conditionalities could be implemented, including the Pan-European Investment Platform (PEIP), EIB lending criteria, InvestEU, and cohesion policy funds. The mapping should identify relevant previous examples, potential avenues, windows of opportunity, and likelihood of success. A first version is due by the end of February 2027 and will be updated as the policy process develops.

2. Investor engagement

Engage bilaterally with responsible institutional investors and industry bodies in the real estate sector, and build an alliance of investors in support of ambitious conditionalities. Success in this area would entail investors or industry bodies explicitly making the case for conditionality to EU decision-makers, publicly or in private meetings.

3. Brussels representation

Represent TASH at relevant events, working groups, and meetings in Brussels, and report back to IHRB and TASH partners. Broaden TASH’s connections with EU institutions, particularly with the EU Parliament and its Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union (HOUS). Success in this area would broaden the range of support - particularly political - for conditionalities.

Contributing roles

The consultant will also contribute to the following activities, owned by TASH colleagues:

• Provide technical expertise to help investors and CSOs align on a common set of conditionalities.

• Input into multi-stakeholder convenings, invite-only roundtables, and capacity-building events (all led by TASH partners)

• Supporting ongoing engagement with the Commission's Housing Task Force, the Working Group on Sustainable and Affordable Housing under the Pan-European Investment Platform (PEIP) and the European Energy Efficiency Financing Coalition (EEEFC), and the EIB

• Supporting TASH comms partners on media o