Housing Europe: European Parliament report excludes social housing from the Juncker Plan?
The latest European Parliament proposal on the regulation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments aims to limit the scope of the Juncker Plan to “high risk” investments. This approach may prevent it from helping to address one of the “biggest risks” facing many economies in the European Union (EU): the housing emergency.
The announcement of the setting up European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) raised high expectations from both the public, cooperative and social housing sector and the tenants’ representatives. It was perceived as a tool which could potentially help meet key future challenges for cities and citizens. However, after the first discussions in the European Parliament, Housing Europe, the European Federation for Public, Cooperative and Social Housing, is concerned that the Fund will in fact not do this. The draft joint report of the Parliament’s Budgets (BUDG) and Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) committees contains some amendment proposals that could strongly limit the possibility to invest in social, cooperative and public housing.
Housing Europe Secretary General, Sorcha Edwards commented just before the deadline for tabling amendments to the parliamentary report:
“In its 2014 report the special Task Force mandated to ’Develop the basis for an investment project pipeline in the EU’ grasped the urgent need for investment in the housing sector. The current blocks to investment prevent many regions and cities from addressing the mismatch between supply and demand of housing which is damaging lives, breaking up families, blighting employment prospects, reducing mobility, over-burdening unnecessarily the health sector and slowing the economy. This European Parliament report creates limitations rather than providing the regulatory conditions that could boost the investment flow towards a sector in need for liquidity.”
In November 2014, the Task Force of the EU on the investment plan stated: “[…]shrinking regional and municipal budgets are having a negative impact on urban social services, including the provision of social housing in several member states”. Housing Europe shares this view and stresses again the need for financial support to affordable housing in the EU for the construction of new homes (e.g. the UK), for sustainable schemes to prevent eviction (e.g. Hungary, Poland, Ireland), for the conversion of empty private properties into social housing (e.g. Italy, Spain) as well as for the refurbishment of the multifamily buildings in central and eastern Europe and adaptation of homes for aging population (e.g. Germany, France) The economic and societal impact of investing in housing is now well documented.
