In a declaration adopted in Lisbon on Wednesday, 11 June, the social democratic group in the European Parliament reaffirmed its commitment in favour of specific measures to be taken at the European level in order to tackle the housing crisis.
The Social Democrats notably recommend the following initiatives: presenting a legislative initiative, in 2026, to regulate short-term rentals; regulating financial players so that housing is not regarded as a speculative asset; protecting tenants as well as the groups that are the most vulnerable, particularly individuals under age 35; improving access to home ownership for low- and middle-income earners and first-time buyers; using tax policy to promote the availability of housing on the rental market; eradicating homelessness once and for all by using the ‘housing first’ approach and by increasing the ‘Child Guarantee’ allocation; ensuring Member States have strong laws against unjust evictions; and increasing public investment in decent, affordable, and sustainable housing by prioritising housing policy in the EU’s post-2027 budget, by reforming State aid (see EUROPE 13654/22), and by using the flexibility in the Stability and Growth Pact.
“While conservatives focus on property rights and repeat ‘build, build, build’, we choose people over profit,” S&D President Iratxe García Pérez, who is Spanish, declared in a press release.
See the ‘Lisbon Declaration’: https://aeur.eu/f/hav (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)