The EFL Team
Joost Nieuwenhuijzen
Managing Director
Anita Blessing
Senior Academic and Network Coordinator
Lucie Lescudé-Plaa
Network and Projects Officer
Peter Hoogeweg
Network and Communications Officer
Joost Nieuwenhuijzen
After his master’s in Town Planning and Real Estate from the University of Amsterdam, Joost developed a professional career in the social housing industry. In the nineties he was appointed as Regional Director of the Amsterdam based housing association “Rochdale”. There he was in charge of redevelopment of a residential property portfolio of about 11,000 homes in the western part of Amsterdam. Meanwhile, he developed a keen interest in improving the social housing sector via international exchange. Together with the Dutch contractor Rob van der Leij, Joost started the development of an international housing network of practitioners and academics, whose core aims were to facilitate mutual learning by sharing knowledge and experiences and stimulate innovation. This was how the European Federation was born. EFL was then extended to an organisation with over 70 members from 14 countries, composed by (affordable) housing providers, universities and commercial companies in the value chain of housing. It’s unique in its composition and is still growing.
Anita Blessing
Anita Blessing is a researcher and consultant who specialises in international comparative research on the governance and strategic development of social and affordable housing organisations. She trained as an urban planner and has worked in public housing redevelopment, neighbourhood renewal and social housing policy reform. Since 2012, she has been a joint coordinator of the European Network for Housing Research working group ‘Social Housing: Institutions, Organisations and Governance’.
Lucie Lescudé-Plaa
Lucie is Network and Projects Officer at EFL. She studied International Relations at the Autonomous University of Madrid and holds a Master’s degree in Urban Governance from Sciences Po. She is based in Paris and also works part-time at Paris Habitat’s International Affairs department. Lucie has a strong interest in housing policy and urban social inclusion, with a focus on Europe and South America. She speaks French, English, Spanish and Portuguese..
Peter Hoogeweg
Peter Hoogeweg studied Business Administration in the Netherlands. After he finished his studies in 2001, he worked in Amsterdam for more than six years for the social housing organization Eigen Haard in its Strategy department. During these years at Eigen Haard, he also supported EFL managing director Joost Nieuwenhuijzen for more than a year. In 2012, Peter moved to Portugal and started his own business. Since the beginning of 2017, Peter has been working with EFL again as a freelancer, heading up the Interreg NWE project CHARM and taking care of the monthly EFL Newsflash. Peter now lives in the Netherlands.
Working for EFL
EFL is always interested to hear from talented individuals! We can offer interesting internships and sometimes part-time work.
Requirements:
- Good language skills (English is a must-have; German, French, and other European languages are appreciated)
- Undergraduate or graduate qualifications
- Relevant studies: economics, urban planning, architecture, real estate management, geography, European law, international business, etc.
- Experience in project management, communications and/or marketing is much appreciated, but not obligatory
- Highly interested in the housing industry
- Independent and proactive
- Our team is based in Amsterdam/The Randstad, so we would prefer it if you lived here too, but we are also open to candidates working remotely
Interested? Email us at info@ef-l.eu with the subject heading “internship”.
