Tackling housing scarcity through affordable, sustainable and family-oriented housing policies

Background

The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union is interested in assessing to what extent measures on affordable housing can complement measures aimed to reduce energy costs for families and support vulnerable households.

Housing and energy policies are two sides of the same coin. Addressing energy poverty can significantly improve the quality of life for households, principally the most vulnerable.

For this reason, the presidency has requested this exploratory opinion. The EESC is evaluating the European Affordable Housing Plan and assessing how it can provide a balanced approach and make sure that both social objectives (e.g. access to adequate housing for low/moderate income groups) and the energy transition are achieved.

Key points

The EESC:

• urges the Commission to adopt far more ambitious measures to address the structural housing crisis, including better framework conditions, a right to adequate and affordable housing in EU primary law, a fundamental reform of the energy market design, sufficient funding and a stronger focus on young people, families and sustainability. 
• calls for a comprehensive understanding focusing on combining environmental responsibility with financial affordability, so that housing costs do not exceed 25% of a household’s disposable income, for regulated basic energy consumption for vulnerable households and for a ban on them being disconnected from the grid.
• calls on the Commission to support Member States by issuing recommendations to combat the ongoing financialisation, particularly in urban areas, noting that young people and families are disproportionately exposed to its effects.
• calls for an expanded and clearly defined exemption in State aid rules in order to safeguard public welfare-oriented housing models throughout the EU. Questions of how to define target groups and carrying out income checks should be left to the Member States in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.

Additional information

Section: Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN)

Opinion number: TEN/866

Opinion type: Exploratory

Rapporteur: Thomas Kattnig (Group II - Austria)

Date of adoption by section: 9 March 2026

Result of the vote: 78 in favour, 1 against, 4 abstentions

Date of adoption in plenary: 18-19 March 2026

Result of the vote: XXX in favour, X against, X abstentions

Contact

Marco Pezzani

Press Officer

Tel.: +32 2 546 9793 | Mob: +32 470 881 903

E-mail: marco.pezzani@eesc.europa.eu

Francesco Napolitano

Administrator

Tel.: +32 546 8921

E-mail: francesco.napolitano@eesc.europa.eu