The European context: a serious housing crisis
Europe is experiencing a serious housing crisis. About 82 million people spend more than 40 percent of
their earnings on housing and more and more people in Europe are in trouble
because of their housing costs. The waiting lists for subsidized, social and
affordable apartments grow longer and longer. In almost all member states in
Europe, the number of homeless people is on the rise. As a consequence, people are being displaced from the cities, forced to leave and
commute over long distances every day to work or study due to the high living
costs in the city.
Land and real estate prices are exploding in Europe’s growing
cities. Global investors (pension funds, hedge funds) are buying up whole
districts, speculating on high profits. Meanwhile, there is too little investment in social &
affordable housing. The investment gap in the EU is about
57 billion euros per year. The fiscal framework of the EU and the EU’s state
aid law are hindering cities and municipalities in their efforts to crate
affordable and social housing space. Also, short-term lettingto tourists via
digital platforms shorten the available living space for the local population
dramatically.
The priorities of the Cities for European Citizens’ Initiative
In this context of housing crisis, the purpose of this
ECI is to bring about better legal and financial framework conditions to
facilitate access to housing for everyone in Europe.
The
initiative’s aim is to urge the EU to take action to facilitate access to
housing for everyone in Europe. This includes:
- Easier access for all
to social and affordable housing. - Not applying the
Maastricht criteria to public investment in social and affordable housing. - Better access to EU
funding for non-profit and sustainable housing developers. - Social,
competition-based rules for short-term rentals, and the compilation of
statistics on housing needs in Europe.
Join the initiative and fight for affordable housing in Europe!
To support a European Citizens’
Initiative, you must be an EU citizen (national of an EU member state) and be
old enough to vote in European Parliament elections (18, except in Greece where
the voting age is 17, and Austria & Malta where the voting age is 16).
The objective is to obtain one million
signatures to get the European Union to legislate to promote access to housing.
Check out the ECI website to sign the
campaign, to spread the word and to stay informed.
