New position on affordable housing

The position on the new European Affordable Housing Plan puts down implementation priorities from the perspective of young workers across Europe. It stresses, most notably, the need of : 

• Reprioritising social and affordable housing in investment policies, recognising that decades of underinvestment have reduced public housing stocks, pushed more people into overpriced private rentals and deepened social divides.
• Mobilising EU-level financial instruments more strategically to encouraging more innovative financing of affordable housing.
• Seeking a seek a shift from short-term housing allowances that can inflate rents towards supply-side solutions by, for instance: Building, acquiring and renovating high-quality,energy-efficient social and affordable homes; curbing the ‘touristification’ of housing through primary-residence rules and mandatory registration for short-termrentals; improving occupancy and to tackle long-term vacancies and empty homes by using taxation tools; and better using of existing housing stocks (‘quiet’ supply) by supporting small-scaledensification housing.
• Using EU economic, social and labour policy coordination more strategically to strengthen housing affordability, as affordable housing is inseparable from fair wages, secure employment and strong public services, all of which the EU can strategically support.
• Combating homelessness and housing exclusion by supporting adoption of a ‘Housing First’ model across Member States.
• Strengthening tenant protection through support longer default leases, predictable and index-linked rent increases with hardship safeguards, limits on unfair evictions, faster mediation and tribunals, and minimum quality and energy standards paired with renovation support so costs are not pushed onto renters.
• Using remote and hybrid work to reduce housing pressure on the most expensive city centres.

CESI Youth Representative Antonello Pietrangeli said: "As CESI Youth, we welcome the European Commission’s European Affordable Housing Plan as the first structured EU-wide effort to treat housing affordability and availability as a social crisis and a barrier to mobility, opportunity and Europe’s competitiveness. Housing is a human right, recognised in the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a foundation of dignity and equal opportunities in the European Pillar of Social Rights. As such, housing must be treated as a public good, not merely as a market commodity. Affordable, inclusive, and sustainable housing is essential to ensure dignity and equal opportunities for all, and young people especially."

The full position is available here.