Affordable and adequate housing for all

Housing is the biggest expenditure for Europeans, negatively impacting people’s health, safety and well-being. Approximately 50% of Romanians live in overcrowded dwellings, 16% of Germans spend more than a third of their income on housing and one in 70 people in Athens, Greece, are homeless. Young people are even more affected: 48% of young Europeans spend over 40% of their disposable income on housing.

As a first step, the EU needs to act and launch a Europe-wide housing framework to enhance Member States’ efforts to provide inclusive, energy-efficient and healthy homes to all.

The European Pillar of Social Rights sets ou[1] that access to social housing or housing assistance of good quality shall be provided for those in need. We will be working to bring this principle into binding law. We want to tackle inequalities to guarantee that all of us can enjoy a healthy home, regardless of income, gender, age, or nationality.

Social and energy efficient housing

The Greens/EFA group wants to boost public spending on social and affordable housing across Europe. It cannot be that a young job seeker in Madrid spends over half of their income on renting a small room or that four generations of the same family are forced to live in the same small apartment in Warsaw.

Access to affordable and quality housing is a right, not a luxury. Providing adequate, energy-efficient housing provides local jobs, reduces household indebtedness, counteracts climate change, and tackles health issues and inequalities. The Greens/EFA group calls on all EU countries to invest more into energy efficient social housing.

More funding for better housing

We want Member States to treat access to housing as a fundamental right for all citizens, in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights they have signed up to. There is an urgent need for investment to ensure that Member States provide appropriate social housing. In this respect, new social housing projects may need to be built across Europe. On the initiative of the Greens/EFA group, the European Regional Development Fund would be a major source of financing for social housing investments.

No one should choose between a place to sleep and a meal to eat. Social, affordable and energy efficient homes are the foundation we need for addressing inequality between rich and poor, creating safe and healthy spaces, and meeting our climate targets across Europe. Adequate housing is a right; it’s high time to respect it.