When was the last time when you took a stroll around a neighbourhood and you found it well-maintained, with a good social mix and green spaces or just the opposite, rather run-down, leaving you a feeling that things can be improved? And a second question to kick off the discussion - when was the last time when you thought that districts, homes and people’s quality of life are the result of a strategic, systematic political action or perhaps inaction? Welcome to ‘Making a house a home’ - the podcast of Housing Europe, the European federation of public, cooperative and social housing providers. You are listening to the 7th episode of Housing 2030 - the joint international initiative of housing experts from over 56 governments through UNECE and UN-Habitat and 43,000 affordable housing providers represented by Housing Europe.  I am Diana Yordanova and I hope you will dive into the ‘new season’ of our Housing 2030 mini-series which will be looking at governance. Our podcast guest today says that “effective champions” and “best practice in leadership and commitment” can drive people’s lives forward, but also that “a housing system that is poorly regulated can be really costly.” This is Dr Julie Lawson – a Housing 2030 Lead Writer and Honorary Associate Professor at RMIT University. This is the second time Julie Lawson is on this show.  In May last year, she discussed with us why good land policy and the need to plan for the wider public interest matter. Now, we will be looking at what kind of governance can build a type of housing system that we want to have and that we need for future generations. You can get to know more about policies that work for homes and for people during the next Housing 2030 digital conference “Good governance and regulation to support affordability in housing”. The event will be held online on 24th February and you can register for it on www.housingeurope.eu or www.housing2030.org. Remember also to keep an eye on the #Housing2030 hashtag and subscribe for our ‘Making a house a home’ podcast on Anchor, Spotify, Google or Apple podcasts. Stay safe and talk to you soon!