On Thursday, 19 February, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) reported in a press release that it had brought together stakeholders at the European, national, and local levels to talk about the housing crisis and to discuss its future “recommendations on what can now be defined as a genuine emergency specifically impacting young people and the most vulnerable”.
In fact, an opinion on the subject, written by Austrian Thomas Kattnig, will be adopted in March. EESC President Séamus Boland reiterated, “Housing is first and foremost a social issue”, but it is also “an economic issue, a demographic issue, [and] a competitiveness issue.”
“An estimated 1.28 million people in Europe live on the street, in shelters, or in temporary accommodation,” he added. “In Brussels alone—the capital that should embody our collective European project—nearly 10,000 people [are] experienc[ing] homelessness.”
European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen reiterated the next steps in the action that the European Commission is taking to tackle this problem: continuing to work on a package of measures to simplify access to housing, focusing on financing and launching the Pan-European Investment Platform later this year, and deepening collaboration with Member States to help young people and students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The commissioner also hopes to present the ‘Affordable Housing Act’ “as soon as possible”. Expected this year, this piece of legislation will include a package of simplification measures and will mobilise new investments under the current multiannual financial framework as well as the next one. He will also propose legislation on short-term rentals. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)