BRUSSELS ― For decades, the EU’s view on housing policy has been simple: It’s not our problem.
Housing isn’t explicitly listed as an institutional competence in any of the EU’s treaties, and though Brussels has issued legislation tackling topics like the energy performance of buildings or the quality of construction materials, it has left regulating the housing market to national, regional and local authorities — until now.
National leaders attending Thursday’s European Council summit are abandoning that position, acknowledging they must provide a united response to a housing crisis that has become impossible to ignore and that is fueling the far right.
“For the very first time, the European Union’s leaders will debate this critical issue at the very highest level,” European Council President António Costa said at a press conference Wednesday. “It is crucial that we, as European leaders, come together to discuss how the European Union can complement these efforts.”
The meeting signals the Council’s decision to join the European Commission and the European Parliament — which have both staked a claim on the issue this year — in affirming that the EU now intends to tackle the affordability of homes.
But with national leaders split on how best to address the crisis, it appears housing will be the latest of many issues the Council is deadlocked on ― a status quo that may favor far-right populists, and could also prove an obstacle to the Commission in its bid to roll out ambitious regulation.
Institutional shift
While housing prices have been rising across Europe for at least a decade, the EU’s institutions have limited their response to symbolic gestures like the 2017 European Pillar of Social Rights, which declares all Europeans have the right to decent housing, but which does nothing to guarantee access to shelter.
The institutional shift began ahead of the 2024 European Parliament election, when center-left groups embraced the issue, and ultimately convinced Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to appoint Denmark’s Dan Jørgensen as the bloc’s first dedicated housing commissioner. Jørgensen intends to unveil the EU’s landmark Affordable Housing Plan in December and has announced plans to present an initiative on short-term rentals in 2026.
Following the Commission’s lead, the Parliament launched a dedicated special committee to analyze the scale of the problem last January, and is due to present its measures in the coming months.
Shortly after taking over the Council — which hadn’t organized a single meeting of the EU’s housing ministers from 2013 to 2022 — Costa included the issue on the EU Leaders Agenda for 2025. Thursday’s summit consolidates his aspiration to have national leaders work together on the crisis he believes poses a triple threat to the EU, as it “affects the fundamental rights of citizens, negatively impacts competitiveness, and is undermining trust in democratic institutions.”
All talk?
The complexity of the crisis means reaching a consensus in the Council will be difficult. National leaders are likely to be divided on how — or whether — to reign in speculation or regulate short-term rentals, and not all may support prioritizing the flow of EU cash to cooperatives and other affordable public housing schemes.
In this week’s draft conclusions, national leaders described the crisis as “pressing,” but only proposed that the Commission present its already-scheduled Affordable Housing Plan. Moreover, the latest version of the text, seen by POLITICO on Wednesday, stresses that Brussels’ response should have “due regard” for subsidiarity — the legal principle that holds the EU should only meddle in an area if it’s certain to achieve better results than actors at the national, regional or local level.
Sorcha Edwards of Housing Europe — which represents public, cooperative and social housing providers — said the text suggests the Council is preemptively excusing itself from intervening, and potentially setting itself up for a clash with the Commission if it considers Jørgensen’s Affordable Housing Plan to be excessively interventionist.
“I’m not very surprised because each country will be defensive about their own approach,” she said, adding “short-term rental platforms will welcome the news.”
But Edwards said a dedication to subsidiarity could be a good thing if it means the EU focuses on taking serious action on debt rules and funneling Brussels cash to social and public housing projects, while giving local authorities more tools to address the problem.
Thursday’s summit will be closely watched by local leaders, like Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni — one of 19 politicians from major EU cities who signed an open letter urging the EU to do more, if only to rein in the far right.
“This week’s European Council summit is an extremely relevant milestone towards an ambitious EU response to the housing crisis — the main source of social inequality in Europe,” Collboni told POLITICO. “We, the cities, expect a clear mandate for the European Commission to put forward an Affordable Housing Plan, which includes three key elements for cities: agile funding, regulation tools and decision-making capacity.”
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