The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, presented the European Housing Action Plan, prepared by the Alliance of European Cities, in Brussels on Thursday. He was accompanied by European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera and Commissioner Dan Jorgensen of Denmark. The Alliance, consisting of 16 cities since the incorporation of Dublin, presented a document proposing to the European Union the creation of a new European Fund for Affordable Housing. This fund would mobilize €300 million annually from public and private sources to support the construction of social housing and the renovation of existing housing.
Furthermore, the Alliance calls for cities to be directly involved in the design and implementation of European programs and in the reform of state aid rules. They emphasize the need to consider disadvantaged areas as priority recipients of funding and call for more flexible tax regulations to encourage public investment in housing.
Given rising rents (60%) and purchase prices (78%) over the past ten years, the original 15 cities have identified a collective financial need of €80 billion to build 200,000 new homes and renovate a million more.
The mayors also believe that concrete action is needed from the European institutions. This includes conditioning member states’ housing policies through the European Semester and national building renovation plans. The aim is to increase public investment in social and affordable housing and promote effective tax and regulatory measures to combat unemployment, prevent real estate speculation, and preserve public housing. They also call for the activation of the “national escape clause” of the European fiscal rules – analogous to defense – to exempt investments in social, affordable, and sustainable housing from deficit and debt calculations. This should mimic the flexibility currently applied to security spending.
Another point is the need to reform the rules on state aid for services deemed to be of general interest in order to create more affordable housing. Finally, the cities are calling for the enforcement of data-sharing obligations on short-term rental platforms, particularly through EU-wide regulation of this type of rental by 2026, so that local restrictions can be correctly applied.
In her subsequent speech, Teresa Ribera stated that “proposals have arrived. We will do our best to create something completely new in European policy. In doing so, we believe the Commission must provide support and identify the best available tools to combat this problem.” Dan Jorgensen added that the situation is already unsustainable: “In too many cities, too many people cannot rent decent housing. This is unacceptable. It is unacceptable that people with normal jobs that are of great importance to our society, such as police officers, civil servants, doctors, or teachers, cannot find decent housing in the cities where they work.”
“It is a priority for this Commission to contribute to solving this crisis,” said the Danish Commissioner, who described cities as the “front line” in the fight against the housing crisis. Jaume Collboni defended the mayors, emphasizing that they had clear ideas: “Our message is clear. The plan is proof of our commitment to actively participate in the development of an affordable housing plan at the European level.”
At the same time, the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, told the media that the focus must also be on social housing. “We believe that we must first establish an emergency fund to help cities develop social and affordable housing projects.” He spoke of the “tension” in the market, especially in Italy. “In many cities, there are not enough apartments in this segment. We have a problem with social housing for the middle class, young people, or students.” Therefore, mayors are demanding “power” in decision-making as well as financial resources to enable cities to quickly take measures to meet these needs.
