On Monday 3 March, members of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the EU questioned the Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jørgensen, on the Commission’s plans to make housing more affordable in the EU, boost supply and demand, and tackle short-term tourist rentals and their impact on rental prices.
The Chair, Irene Tinagli (S&D, Italian), began by recalling the very clear mandate of the Housing Committee, which is taking up its duties at a time when the housing crisis is raging everywhere, with rising prices and rents. “We must meet all these challenges” and “ensure that private and public funding is at an adequate level”. Work also needs to be done on the link between “housing and energy”, insisted the Italian.
Speaking to the MEPs, the Commissioner outlined the issues on which the Commission intends to work. Firstly, in terms of financing, he will be visiting the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg this week to present the initial plans for a pan-European platform to boost investment in housing.
Concerning the timetable for the concrete proposals, the Commissioner indicated that they would only arrive after the recommendations of the special committee in order to be integrated into the work of the European Parliament. “But it won’t take a year”, he sought to reassure, as MEPs were concerned that the principle of a housing plan had not been included in the Commission’s work programme for 2025.
Among other things, the Commissioner wants to look into State aid and a possible revision of the regulatory framework to boost investment in sustainable housing.
While the main share of funding to support the housing sector will be public, he recalled the current possibility of doubling investment under cohesion policy, which could rise from €7.5 billion to €15 billion.
Aware that housing is a matter for subsidiarity, he said that the EU already had a number of instruments at its disposal, with €21.3 billion from the European Recovery Facility already earmarked for housing renovation, “and we can do more”.
Despite promises to tackle overtourism, the Commissioner remained cautious about the impact of short-term rentals on rental prices, explaining to the MEPs the diversity of positions within Member States and regions, between those who have opted for regulation and those who do not want to regulate this practice.
He also ruled out the idea of introducing tax measures, as this was a matter for the Member States: responses at EU level would be based on “EU instruments”. He was also cautious about the phenomenon of the financialisation of housing (dependence on the financial markets), while indicating that he was working on the subject with his colleague Maria Luís Albuquerque, Commissioner for Financial Services.
Dan Jørgensen also announced a specific dialogue on youth to listen to young people’s concerns about access to housing. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)