On Tuesday 16 December, the European Commission submitted a proposal to revise the framework for State aid to undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest (SGEIs) in the European Union in order to support affordable housing.
Replacing Decision 2012/21, this legislative revision includes a new ‘affordable housing’ category, which will enable Member States to support affordable housing projects in addition to their social housing policy, without prior notification or authorisation from the Commission. According to the European Commission, this will mainly affect “households that are not disadvantaged, but are unable to access affordable housing due to (...) market failures”.
SGEIs relating to affordable housing will be able to include some disadvantaged households, the EU institution has assured. It will be up to the Member States to define the methods of support, the target groups, the eligibility criteria, the price of housing, the quality and accessibility standards, according to their context and their housing needs.
The possibility of awarding mixed SGEIs covering social housing and affordable housing was considered for a time but abandoned (see EUROPE 13723/17).
As requested by Germany and France (EUROPE 13773/19), an SGEI provider may make affordable housing available for a period of less than 20 years, provided that this shorter period is duly justified, for example by the temporary nature of the State intervention or by the provider's commercial revenues being less than 5% of total annual revenues during the period in question.
“Smarter state aid rules and greater mobilisation of European funds can really help regional and local leaders in their efforts to make affordable housing available to their citizens,” said the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Kata Tüttő, in a statement.
The European Association of Public Financial Institutions (EAPB) also welcomed the presentation of the legislative initiative.
See the Commission’s proposal for a decision: https://aeur.eu/f/k16 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)