Brussels, 05/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - In adopting (with 45 votes in favour, 3 against and 1 abstention) the draft initiative report by Alfonso Andria (ALDE, Italy) entitled “housing and regional policy” at its meeting of 20 March in Brussels, the EP's committee on regional development demands: - the identification, at European level, of a series of minimum quality standards defining the concept of 'decent housing'; - an increase in the right to housing benefits to facilitate worker mobility; - the granting of a bigger role to local authorities in terms of planning and managing the use of Community funds for housing projects; - that the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) implement the JESSICA initiative (joint EU support for sustainable investment in urban areas, see EUROPE 9201).
The report, which will be put to the vote in the EP's plenary session on 9-10 May 2007 in Brussels, notes in particular that four out of every five Europeans live in urban areas and that many European cities have substantial problems with housing: insufficient supply, soaring costs for purchase and maintenance, and buildings in a poor state of repair. At the same time, the report goes on, urban sprawl adds to problems of mobility (congested public transport, use of cars), energy consumption and pollution. MEPs therefore believe that Community funding could help breathe new life into urban areas through a combination of measures to redevelop public areas, improve safety and prevent delinquency, make more efficient use of water and energy and renew infrastructures. Moreover, although the EU does not have any particular powers in terms of housing, the new ERDF regulation for 2007-2013 can allow the granting of structural aid for housing in urban redevelopment projects in regions of the new member states threatened by environmental degradation or social exclusion. Finally, the report stresses that Structural Fund aid should be part of an integrated strategy to improve access to housing, such that all measures designed to improve quality of life in urban environments and increase their attractiveness be taken simultaneously, in order to give the greatest possible impetus to employment and growth. (gb)