The ambitious, first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan presented today by the first-ever European Commissioner for Housing, Dan Jørgensen, is a victory for millions of Europeans struggling to heat, rent, or buy their home.
This is also a hard-won battle for social democracy. It was the Progressives who put housing at the forefront of the EU agenda by securing the first-ever commissioner for housing and the European Parliament’s special committee to tackle the housing crisis, paving the way for this momentum.
The S&D Group particularly welcomes the far-reaching plans to regulate short-term tourist rentals. In May, the Group delivered an important legal study with concrete legislative solutions to guarantee fair, sustainable, and accountable short-term rental practices, which form the backbone of the plan presented today.
Iratxe García, S&D leader, said:
"Today we are reaching a historic milestone. The first European Affordable Housing Plan – reaffirming that a home is a fundamental right – is the result of three years of intense work and, above all, the fruit of the determination of the entire social-democratic family to put housing at the centre of the European agenda.
"We are facing a social emergency. House prices in the EU increased by 53% and rents by 25%. Sixty-two per cent of the population fear they will not be able to afford a home. More than 1.2 million people, including 400,000 children, are currently homeless.
"Now is the time to implement it quickly and ambitiously, with massive investments: €300 billion for affordable and decent housing, with at least €100 billion in subsidies and state aid. We need to regulate short-term rentals at the European level to give cities back to those who live and work in them. We also need to protect tenants, stop the evictions of families, and ensure fair and secure contracts. And we need a clear roadmap to end homelessness by 2030.
"The era of speculation must come to an end, because the right to a home is above the profit of a few."
Gaby Bischoff, S&D vice-president for social Europe, added:
"Today, we can proudly say that this groundbreaking plan would not have seen the light of day without our determination and hard work. It contains several concrete progressive solutions that we set out in our position paper(opens in a new tab).
"We warmly welcome the announced comprehensive legislative initiative on short-term tourist rentals, following our proposals guided by the principle that mass tourism must not lock locals out of their neighbourhoods. This is key to empowering national, regional and local public authorities to take justified and proportionate action, especially in areas experiencing housing stress.
"We are also pleased to see major steps to boost investments in affordable and decent homes. We welcome the additional €10 billion allocated under InvestEU, as well as further billions expected through the reprogramming of cohesion funds. In parallel, we will continue fighting for a dedicated line in the next long-term EU budget, amounting to at least €300 billion, including €100 billion in grants.
"The announced revision of EU state aid rules to ease access to affordable and decent homes for low- and middle-income earners is also the right answer to our calls, as is the proposed Citizens’ Energy Package, which aims to help households affected by energy poverty, alongside commitments to mobilise new investments in social housing and solutions for homeless people and the youth.
"One of the main causes of the housing crisis is speculation. We demand that homes are treated as a social good rather than profit-driven assets. We welcome the first steps in this direction and are confident that this will lead to concrete actions, because our homes must not be a playground for speculators."
Read more
Our position paper on housing(opens in a new tab)
Our survey on the housing crisis(opens in a new tab)
Our previous press release on housing
