What changed

J. whereas the availability and affordability of decent housing is decreasingdecreasing; becausewhereas housing is primarily a competence of the Member States, in line with the principle of subsidiarity; whereas the reasons thatbehind the current housing situation may differ from one Member State to another, such as over-liberalisation of the market, real-estate speculation, unregulated short-term rentals, the drop in purchasing power of people in poverty and the lack of social and public housing, and is one of the major challenges Europeans are facing today; whereas we are far from reaching the target of ending homelessness by 2030; whereas the EU will have its first ever Commissioner for tackling the housing crises, and the first ever European affordable and sustainable housing plan is expected in 2025; whereas homeless children should be specifically targeted in this plan; whereas such proposals, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, need to go hand in hand with national measures in order to improve access to sustainable and affordable housing and the quality of everyday life, such as measures concerning short-stay rentals or other market interventions in highly stressed areas;

K. whereas one child in four is still at risk of poverty and social exclusion in the EU, and whereas the current trend will not meet the target of reducing the number of children in poverty by at least 5 million by 2030; whereas the European Child Guarantee aims to prevent and combat child poverty and the social exclusion of children in need, by guaranteeing effective and free access to high-quality early childhood education and care, education, school-based activities, at least one free healthy meal each school day, as well as healthcare, and effective access to healthy nutrition and adequate housing; whereas the Executive Vice-President of the Commission for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness is responsible for strengthening the Child Guarantee; whereas ESF+ resources alone are not sufficient for addressing the challenge of child poverty in the EU and, therefore, ain significantline increasewith inthe fundingsubsidiarity forprinciple, thethis Europeanmatter Childshould Guaranteebe asaddressed wellurgently by the Member States as synergiesa withmatter otherof Europeanpriority and nationalthe fundsexchange areand coordination of best practices should be enhanced, while being complemented by the utmostESF+ importance;at EU level;

24. Stresses that addressing child poverty requires appropriately funded, comprehensive and integrated measures, together with the efficient implementation of the European Child Guarantee at national level, and insists thaton itthe constitutesneed, ain centralline pillarwith ofthe subsidiarity principle, for the EUMember anti-povertyStates strategy;to repeatsaddress itsthis previousmatter demandsurgently forwith therobust ESF+budgetary post-2027resources financialand envelopestands ready to includeenhance athe dedicatedcoordination budgetand exchange of best practices at leastEU EURlevel 20while billioncontinuing forto theprovide Europeancomplementary Childsupport Guarantee;through insiststhe ESF+; insists, furthermore, that all the Member States should allocate at least 5 % of their ESF+ resources to tackling child poverty and those Member States with a rate of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion above the EU average should allocate a higher amount to tackle the problem more effectively; insists on transparent and efficient use of the European Child Guarantee budget as close to the target groups as possible and in cooperation with whole spectrum of stakeholders and local organisations;

33. Recalls that the ESF+ should also aim to provide a healthy and well-adapted working environment in order to respond to health risks related to changing forms of work, and the needs of the ageing workforce; stresses that the pandemic has accelerated new realities and the rise of new forms of work brought by digitalisation, including artificial intelligence (AI), that have affected workers’ occupational safety and health; calls, in this light, for support and sufficient funding for a directive on the right to disconnect and teleworking rules, a directive on AI in the workplace and a Directive on psychosocial risks and well-being at work, as well as increased funding to ensure effective work on the protection of workers against dangerous and harmful substances;

41. Calls for rules governing the ESF+ to allow public money to be allocated only to those employers that respect workers’ rights and the applicable rules on working conditions; calls, further, for more effective social conditionalities in rules on public procurement and concessions; encourages the Commission to create a comprehensive database, supplementing the Eurostat data, to allow for the timely and reliable monitoring of developments in employment, living conditions and industrial relations;