An estimated 1.28 million people in Europe live on the street, in shelters or in temporary accommodation.
In Brussels alone – the capital that campaigners say should “embody our collective European project” – nearly 10,000 people are experiencing homelessness, it is claimed.
It is also pointed out that in some member states house prices and rents had gone up by more than 100% and young Europeans were postponing becoming independent.
The housing “emergency” now requires immediate action, insists the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
It gathered together all relevant stakeholders at European, national and local level to take stock of the ongoing housing emergency and discuss the issue.
“Housing is first and foremost a social issue,’ said EESC President Séamus Boland at the meeting in Brussels, adding, “but it is no longer only that. It is an economic issue. A demographic issue. A competitiveness issue. This is why tackling the housing crisis is one of the key priorities of my mandate.”
In his opinion, “the reality is unfortunately harsh: Europe is facing a housing emergency.”
At the same event, Dan Jørgensen, European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, said, “Now that we have our final plan, we must put it into action. We must harness all of the political tools and proposals so that we can support Member States, regions and local authorities to deliver more affordable, sustainable and quality housing.”
Jørgensen listed the Commission’s next steps:
- delivering the Affordable Housing Act as soon as possible;
- continuing to work on a housing simplification package;
- focusing on financing – another cornerstone of the plan – and launching the pan-European Investment Platform later this year;
- stepping up work with Member States to assist young people and students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds;
- providing an extra political push and enabling closer high-level cooperation by launching a housing alliance and organising a housing summit this year.
Further comment came from Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s DG ENER and leader of the Commission’s Housing Task Force.
He stressed it was important to keep political momentum because if housing was an issue for Europeans, then it had to be an issue for Europe.
Along the same lines, Irish MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, shadow rapporteur for the Anti-Poverty Strategy and the Housing Report, reiterated that housing and poverty were two sides of the same coin and that EU measures must be fully coordinated.
He added that the Union needed a strong, urgent and collective effort from its institutions, Member States, local authorities, the social partners and civil society to deliver real change on the ground.
Michaela Kauer, Director of the Brussels office of the City of Vienna and coordinator of the EU Urban Agenda Housing Partnership, stressed that Vienna had been in the lead in promoting the concept of “housing for the common good”.
She explained that what made the Vienna model so successful was a strong political will to shape the housing market, not just to repair it, and the fact of constantly engaging with all actors involved. She also mentioned the need to address housing affordability through a gender lens because “energy poverty clearly has a woman’s face.”
For her part, Marie Linder, President of the International Union of Tenants (IUT) and of the Swedish Tenants’ Union, underlined the importance of having tenants’ representatives at the decision-making table and said that the focus must be kept on people by using tools such as rent stabilisation mechanisms, protection for long-term rental contracts and cost-neutrality for housing renovation.
Chiara Martinelli, Director of Climate Action Network Europe, said that the housing emergency went hand in hand with energy poverty and that it was important to push further and move from words to action and implement policies, turning the Commission’s plan into a shared EU priority.
The EESC will now put forward specific recommendations at its March plenary session.
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