The EU's growing housing crisis is reaching an inflection point: one in ten Europeans is unable to pay their rent or a mortgage on time, and several European countries suffer from severe housing shortages.
Between 2020 and 2025, over 13 million European residents had neither a home they owned nor one they rented — including those forced to stay with friends or relatives, rely on emergency accommodation or sleep in public spaces. People in major European cities spend most of their salaries on rent. No wonder, then, that housing has become such a hot topic.
Housing and Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen tells us his plan to avoid the politicization of the crisis, while S&D President Iratxe García Pérez explores her group’s program to cut home costs, including a new housing fund.
MEP Borja Giménez Larraz outlines solutions identified by the European Parliament. MEP Brigitte van der Berg underscores the need for reasonable energy prices.
Meanwhile, The Parliament's Peder Schaefer interviewed Sorcha Edwards of Housing Europe, who warns of the risks of giving the market "too much power" over housing for low-income citizens.
Our report also highlights two national cases. Schaefer retraces Dutch party D66's electoral victory through a campaign focused on the Netherlands' housing shortage. Finally, Massimo Bricocoli, full professor at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at the Polytechnic University of Milan, advances proposals to address the lack of accommodation for university students in Italy.
— Francesco Puggioni, Opinion & Policy Report Editor