- In the document presented by the European Commission (EC) last December, housing is framed as a fundamental right and a roadmap is set out to address the current housing access crisis affecting Europe.
- Although the Plan refers to situations of vulnerability, situations of extreme vulnerability -such as informal settlements- are not explicitly included among its core priorities, as requested by EURoma.
What does the Plan propose?
The Plan proposes ensuring affordable, sustainable, and quality housing for all, while respecting national competences, but strengthening the European Union’s coordinating, financial, and regulatory role.
To this end, it sets out a series of measures (10 Actions) structured around four main pillars: (I) increasing the supply of social and affordable housing; (II) mobilising public and private investment; (III) supporting territories and strained markets through structural reforms; and
(IV) protecting the groups most affected.
It is within this last pillar (IV – Support for the most affected) that the EC identifies low-income groups particularly impacted by the housing crisis, such as young people, students, essential workers, and homeless people, and explicitly recognises the Roma population as one of the groups in a disadvantaged situation.
What are the objectives of the Plan?
Within the four pillars mentioned, the Plan establishes ten key areas of action in which the EU can add value and support the efforts of Member States.
Pillar I — Increasing supply
Under this pillar, measures are envisaged to promote the construction and efficient renovation of affordable housing, improving productivity in the construction sector and simplifying administrative procedures to accelerate the creation of new housing. Training and labour mobility will also be promoted to address the shortage of skilled labour—identified as one of the main obstacles to increased construction—through the implementation of large-scale training and apprenticeship programmes in construction-related professions under the Pact for Skills.
Pillar II — Mobilising investment
A central element of the Plan is the strengthening of financing mechanisms. The European Commission, in cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other financial institutions, will promote the creation of a Pan-European Housing Investment Platform, conceived as an instrument to channel public and private capital towards affordable and social housing projects. This platform is expected to mobilise at least €43 billion in investments through Cohesion Policy Funds, InvestEU, LIFE, the Single Market Programme, Horizon Europe, and NextGenerationEU.
Pillar III — Immediate support and structural reforms
The EU will support areas facing the greatest difficulties in accessing housing through a coherent legal framework that enables public authorities to identify housing-stressed areas and define which specific and proportionate measures can be adopted to manage housing challenges in those areas.
Pillar IV — Protecting the most affected groups
The social dimension is one of the cross-cutting axes of the European Affordable Housing Plan and underscores the need to adopt comprehensive approaches that combine the supply of affordable housing with accompanying social measures. Particular emphasis is placed on people and households at risk of housing exclusion, explicitly identifying “older people with low pensions, single-parent families and families with children at risk of poverty, LGBTIQ+ people, victims of gender-based violence, the Roma population and other marginalised minorities, migrants, and other groups at risk of exclusion or discrimination”.
Within this pillar (under Action 10, Tackling homelessness and supporting tenants and vulnerable households), the European Commission will propose a Council Recommendation against housing exclusion, linked to the future European Anti-Poverty Strategy. This Recommendation will aim to support Member States in developing housing policies that strengthen equitable access and prevent situations of housing exclusion. Although it does not establish binding, specific measures for these contexts, it does highlight the importance of integrating a social inclusion and non-discrimination perspective into the design and implementation of housing projects.
The Commission also highlights the “Housing First” principle as a reference approach, promoting stable access to housing as a key element for social inclusion, participation in the labour market, and access to other fundamental rights. In this regard, Member States are encouraged to use available financial instruments and European funds in a coordinated manner to develop sustainable housing solutions accompanied by adequate social services.
Assessment of the Plan
- While the Plan represents a significant step forward in shaping a European housing policy, it does not specifically include clear objectives or concrete and binding tools to eradicate situations of informal settlements and substandard housing through integrated housing, social inclusion, and anti-discrimination policies. The lack of explicit recognition of these situations may hinder access to European funding and perpetuate fragmented or insufficient responses.
For example, the proposal does not incorporate one of the demands presented by EURoma during the Plan’s drafting process: the integration of the EU Action Plan to eradicate Roma settlements by 2030, requested by the European Parliament in 2022, in order to ensure coherence between housing investments and social inclusion objectives.
- Moreover, the role to be played by existing financial instruments (ERDF/ESF+) within the investment framework to be developed by the future Pan-European Affordable and Sustainable Housing Investment Platform announced by the Commission remains unclear.
- EURoma’s contribution to the European Plan also called for structured dialogue mechanisms involving the European Commission, national authorities, and civil society organisations to design, implement, and monitor actions effectively. Although the Plan foresees the creation of a European Housing Alliance involving all levels of government, cities, regions, national and European institutions, housing sector stakeholders, the European Parliament, the European Committee of the Regions, and the European Economic and Social Committee, it limits the Alliance’s impact to knowledge exchange and best practices through a new multilevel governance mutual learning programme on housing.
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