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DRAFT REPORT (2025/2070(INI))

On the housing crisis in the European Union with the aim of proposing solutions for decent, sustainable and affordable housing

HOUS-PR-772037

Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union · Rapporteur: Rapporteur: Borja Giménez Larraz

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This draft report addresses the housing crisis in the EU, proposing solutions for decent, sustainable, and affordable housing. It calls for boosting supply, easing regulations, supporting demand, and improving data.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes a resolution that calls for a comprehensive EU approach to the housing crisis, focusing on increasing supply, reducing regulatory burdens, supporting demand, and improving data, while respecting subsidiarity.

Key points

  1. Expresses concern about the housing crisis, especially for young people and low- and middle-income families, and welcomes the Commission's strategy for housing construction and an affordable housing plan.
  2. Calls for respecting the role of local and regional authorities, ensuring direct access to EU funds, and promoting integrated urban strategies, including for rural and outermost regions.
  3. Underlines that the main cause is insufficient supply and calls for reducing regulatory burdens, easing permitting, and improving land availability, including through positive administrative silence.
  4. Calls for integrating renovation into housing policies, promoting tax systems that incentivize housing, and requesting a report on EU legislation affecting construction material prices.
  5. Encourages investment in innovation and productivity in construction, including digitalisation and industrialisation, and calls for support for micro-enterprises and SMEs.
  6. Recalls the right to property and calls for coordinated policies to prevent illegal occupation, including a European register of illegal occupation and swift legal mechanisms for recovery.
  7. Urges action to address labour shortages in construction, including vocational training and use of skills matching tools, and supports the single digital declaration portal for posted workers.
  8. Calls for mobilising private investment and strengthening public-private cooperation, while advocating strategic use of EU funds and supporting the EIB's role and a pan-European investment platform.
  9. Calls for measures to help young people access housing credit, including guarantees up to 100% for first-time buyers, and for better access to rental housing for students.
  10. Invites member states to explore programmes for low- and middle-income households, including essential workers, and welcomes the consultation on State aid rules for SGEI.
  11. Calls for a European action plan for families, strengthening the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, and accelerating the European Child Guarantee.
  12. Encourages better data collection via Eurostat and a dedicated platform, calls for an annual European housing report, and for an impact assessment of short-term rentals on housing prices.

Who is affected

  • Young people and first-time buyers: would benefit from credit guarantees and tax exemptions.
  • Local and regional authorities: would gain direct access to EU housing funds and support for capacity building.
  • Construction and renovation sector, including SMEs and self-employed: would see reduced regulatory burdens and support for innovation and skills.
  • Property owners: would get stronger legal protection against illegal occupation.
  • Low- and middle-income households, including essential workers: would benefit from tailored housing programmes.

Figures and deadlines

  • 26.3 years: average age at which young people left their parental home in 2023.
  • 10.6% of EU citizens reported being unable to adequately heat their homes in 2023.
  • 69.2% of EU households were owner-occupiers in 2023.
  • EUR 270 billion per year: estimated investment gap in affordable housing.
  • 30%: marginal effective tax rate on owner-occupied housing in some member states.

Legal basis: Articles 5(1) and 5(3) TEU and Protocol No 2; Articles 9, 14, 151 and 153 TFEU and Protocol No 26