Empty Homes Collaborative (EHC) has been invited to take part in the iM:PACT Mediterranean 2026 social innovation initiative, promoted by Fundación Empresa y Sociedad together with the National Foundation for Civil Society Development.
Although the final selection decision will be made at the end of June, we are optimistic and very excited, given the volume of vacant homes across the Mediterranean and the opportunity this represents for our model to be scaled there as well.
The programme seeks to identify social, environmental, and digital projects that are already generating results and can be replicated in other countries across the Mediterranean region.
The existence of millions of vacant homes while thousands of people face increasing difficulties in accessing affordable housing is a paradox that highlights a market failure. Housing has become one of the main social concerns in Spain and throughout Europe.
There are currently more than 31 million vacant homes in Europe, a reality that demonstrates the need to promote new forms of collaboration to facilitate access to housing and generate a positive impact on communities. In this context, the model developed by EHC seeks to activate this underutilised housing stock through Conscious Collaborative Accords (CCA) that build trust among property owners, public administrations, and communities.
The iM:PACT Mediterranean initiative places particular emphasis on projects that combine social innovation, useful technology, and cross-country collaboration to address shared challenges. EHC fits fully within this vision by contributing to objectives such as access to housing, social inclusion, territorial cohesion, the creation of opportunities, and the sustainable transition.
As MarÃa José Anitua confirmed on LinkedIn after seeing the post on 11 June, 2026:
“Europe and the Mediterranean need real projects, useful technology, and collaboration between countries to turn social innovation into employment, inclusion, competitiveness, the green transition, and social cohesion.”
For Empty Homes Collaborative, this participation represents an opportunity to demonstrate that the reuse of vacant homes can become a solution that’s replicable on an international scale, generating social, environmental, and economic impact in rural communities where a collaborative ecosystem exists to support scaling.
