How can the EU guarantee access to affordable housing?

The European Commission and Parliament are trying to tackle the housing crisis across the EU.

Rising property prices combined with a shortage of available housing have made access to affordable housing for many increasingly difficult. The situation is critical.

“We need more efforts to create more investments in the housing sector. We also need to look at other regulations that are today hindering that more houses are being built,” Dan Jørgensen, Commissioner for Energy and Housing, told Euronews, calling for “less red tape”.

Rent across the bloc rose by an average of 22% and property prices by 48% between 2010 and 2023, according to Eurostat.

Construction production costs have risen by 52% over the same period, according to the European agency.

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The European Commission, MEPs and various stakeholders began a dialogue in Brussels on Monday to look for solutions to the crisis at a European level.

The scope of the project is vast, with issues such as housing shortages, social housing, fuel poverty, labour shortages in the construction industry and obstacles to obtaining planning permission being discussed.

The EU is particularly interested in the impact of short-term rentals, which account for almost a quarter of tourist rentals.

“We are certainly looking at the role of short term rentals. On one hand, it is a great possibility for people to go see each other’s countries, for people to have an income, to rent out a room or a home for a limited time,” Dan Jørgensen told Euronews.

“On the other hand, it does lead to huge problems in some cities. In some cities where people are forced out more or less of their homes so that they become a business machine, so to speak, instead of being a normal home.”

Measures being discussed include the use of European funding for the construction of social housing and the creation of a pan-European recruitment platform to address the shortage of labour in the construction industry.

No one-size-fits-all solution

The European Parliament recently set up a special committee on the housing crisis in the EU, which is expected to make recommendations to the Commission within a year.

Its chair, Irene Tinagli, insists that there is no “universal recipe” for guaranteeing access to affordable housing in the EU.

“There can be areas where the problem is more demand side, other areas where it’s more of a supply side and the type of supply varies. There are places where new construction is unthinkable and you really need to work on existing infrastructure, retrofitting, renovation. There are areas where you could actually alleviate the problem by constructing,” she said.

Between 2007 and 2019, the age at which the majority of Europeans moved out of their parents’ home increased from 26 to 28.

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However, housing is not directly controlled by the EU, meaning there is limited room for manoeuvre.