More and more Europeans are worried about not being able to find decent accommodation they can afford. The risk is inadequate housing, financial pressure, housing insecurity and even homelessness. Unaffordable housing can affect people’s health and well-being, give rise to unequal living conditions and opportunities and result in healthcare costs, lower productivity and environmental damage.

A recent conference held by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Brussels sent a clear warning: the housing crisis in Europe is getting worse and this is bringing about a number of side effects.

According to a recent Eurofound study, the housing crisis affects young people in particular, preventing them from moving out of their family home. The age at which at least 50% of people in the EU were living outside their parental home increased from 26 to 28 between 2007 and 2019. Between 2010 and 2019, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Belgium, Greece and Ireland faced the largest increases in people aged 25–34 living with their parents.

Over the years, the EESC has sought to flag up housing issues across the EU. In 2020, the Committee adopted an opinion on  Universal access to housing that is decent, sustainable and affordable over the long term drafted by its members Raymond Hencks and András Edelényi and called for a European action plan on housing.

With the recommendations from this conference, the EESC intends to give political impetus to the debate and ensure that the EU housing crisis appears on the 2024-2029 agenda of the new European Parliament and Commission. The European Union must pull together the resources to fight the shortage of decent and affordable housing. (mp)