We want a housing system that works for people. Where everyone across Europe, from Paris to Warsaw, Dublin to Athens, has access to affordable, quality, healthy homes. We should all be able to rent a home without the “airbnb effect” driving up monthly prices, and we should even be able to buy a home, just like many of our parents and grandparents were able to do.
Housing is too often seen as a market for profit rather than a human right. Market manipulation and financial speculation are having a catastrophic effect on prices, leaving more and more people in the EU struggling to cope with rising housing costs.
The quality of housing is also a problem. Far too many people in Europe live in overcrowded, damp, poorly insulated or otherwise unhealthy housing.
Similarly, the housing crisis is also affecting people who are homeless. Every night, 700,000 people sleep on the streets or in homeless shelters across the EU. This has to stop.
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The EU can no longer hide behind the illusion it has no role on housing policy. There are multiple ways EU rules influence the housing market. The European Pillar of Social Rights aims at providing “housing and assistance for the homeless”, so it is time to turn it into action. The EU needs to take an ambitious stance on housing and to support strong collaboration to improve access to housing for all, at all levels.
The EU must act to end homelessness. To do so, it must
- Set an EU-wide target to end homelessness by 2030.
Everyone has the right to a home. We call on the European Commission to take stronger action to support Member States in reducing and ending homelessness, by committing to ending it by 2030. - Tackling evictions and creating inclusive housing markets.
The European Commission should assess and propose, where necessary, new laws to counter the financialisation of housing markets and prevent speculators from making housing unaffordable. - Expand the stock of affordable housing in Europe.
Europe has a shortage of social housing, which is the main cause of homelessness. - Develop an integrated European housing strategy.
The EU can no longer hide behind its lack of competence in housing policy. - Prioritise the Green Pact for Europe.
The renovation wave can play an important role in providing healthy, suitable and accessible housing, fighting climate change, reducing energy costs and tackling fuel poverty. - Adapt European rules to digital platforms.
We want to give cities more control over rentals via platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com. - Fight discrimination in housing.
