EqualHouse Advisory Board

Dr. Elena Szolgayová, an architect and urban planner with long-standing research experience, since 2003 Director General, DG Housing Policy and Urban Development, Ministry of Transport and Construction, Slovakia. For over two decades participated in shaping the visions of the global, European, and national housing and urban policies, was one of those steering the process toward adoption of the Geneva UN Charter on sustainable housing. 

She participated in the Habitat III Bureau and in the Housing Policy Unit during the preparatory process of the New Urban Agenda. She was one of the coordinators of the Housing Partnership under the EU Urban Agenda. Elena has contributed to several UNECE and research publications related to urban and housing issues. From 2013 – 2019 she served as Chair of the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management. She was also the Co-Chair of the #Housing2030 initiative.

David is a hugely experienced leader in both Executive and Non- Executive roles. He has over 30 years experience in Chief Executive roles, most recently at the National Housing Federation. He is Chair of Reall, an international development housing charity and is a previous President of Housing Europe. He is also Chair of ReSI Housing and has recently joined the boards of Clarion Housing Group and Clanmil HA. David is widely regarded as a compelling and inspiring public speaker focusing on the challenge of optimistic leadership and the critical importance of great governance. He has huge media experience, is a well-regarded commentator and blogger and has extensive expertise navigating the sometimes opaque world of politics and government. In June 2018 David was awarded a CBE. He served as the Co-Chair of the #Housing2030 initiative.

Gulnara Roll is the Head of Cities and Buildings Unit at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). She leads activities that define and implement the Unit’s strategy, considering emerging issues, needs of national and subnational governments and other stakeholders, and overall delivery of UNEP’s Programme of Work and Medium-Term Strategy. She has 15 years of experience working at the UN, supporting international cooperation, organizing intergovernmental meetings, conducting international negotiations, preparing studies, managing projects and teams, and fundraising. Gulnara was previously Secretary to the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management at the UNECE. There she managed  large projects on urban development and housing, and was a key partner in the #Housing2030 initiative. She holds a PhD in Human Geography and Environmental Sciences and an Executive MBA in Management of International Organizations from the University of Geneva.

Besim Nebiu is the Director for Central and Eastern Europe /Commonwealth of Independent States at Habitat for Humanity. He has over 20 years of career in non-profit management, civil society development, democratization, media freedoms and international development.  Based out of Habitat’s EMEA Area Office in Bratislava, for many years Besim has led HFHI’s work on residential energy in Eastern Europe and managed  the Residential Energy Efficiency (REE) program and initiatives, including the REELIH program. Besim has BA and MA in Economy and 15 years’ managing social housing, shelter and residential energy programs in Eastern Europe, Western Balkans and Central Asia. In his current role, Besim leads the Habitat team that organized the Europe Housing Forum 2021.

Victoria is the Head of Sector for Urban Development at the Union for the Mediterranean. 

She has previously worked for the European Investment Bank. Based in Barcelona, Victoria has also previously worked for the Region of Catalonia, supporting on many aspects of public policy; especially on urban planning and land usage. She holds a Masters in Architecture from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Christophe Lalande is the Housing Lead at UN-Habitat. His professional experience is in housing policy and development, in particular in the design and implementation of inclusive and sustainable housing policies and programmes in countries and cities. His work at UN-Habitat is supporting the implementation of the New Urban Agenda towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11. 

He is coordinating UN-Habitat housing programme of work globally, producing policy guidelines, methodologies, and tools to address the global housing affordability challenge and to promote the right to adequate housing for all.

Leilani Farha is the Global Director of The Shift; an initiative to restore the idea of housing as a human right, not a commodity or an extractive industry. The Shift restores the understanding of housing as home, challenging the ways financial actors undermine the right to housing. Using a human rights framework, The Shift provokes action to end homelessness, unaffordability, and evictions globally.

Leilani is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing where she worked to highlight issues around homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements, rights-based housing strategies, and the first UN Guidelines for the implementation of the right to housing.

Grzegorz Gadja is a Senior Economist at the European Investment Bank. However, he is participating in the EqualHouse Advisory Board in an independent capacity. Grzegorz has been working in recent times on supporting the government of Ukraine to develop partnerships with the EIB, with a particular focus on housing. 

He has many years of experience appraises projects submitted for the EIB financing both from the European Union countries and from outside of the EU. Previously, while he was with the IFC, he lead Ukraine Residential Energy Efficiency Project. Prior to the IFC, he was with European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where he appraised, negotiated and implemented urban investment projects in Poland and Ukraine. He comes from Warsaw, Poland and holds MA Econ. from Warsaw University.