EUROCITIES Social Affairs Forum
Utrecht, 7-8 March2018
WG Housing and Homelessness updates
Wednesday, 7 March, 16:00-17:30
Venue: Tivoli Vredenburg, Vredenburgkade 11
Housing
1. Working group housing – 14-16 November, Barcelona
The meeting was held alongside the World Congress on Sustainable Cities, which gathered over 700 cities and municipalities. The seminar on ‘smart housing in a smart city’ featured presentations from city politicians from London, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Dublin and Bonn. The meeting addressed how cities are responding to the changing housing market and increased pressure on affordable housing. Participants discussed various measures to address speculation in housing markets, such as rent ceilings, and ways of managing short-term rental in cities. Read more
2. Urban partnership on affordable housing
On 9-10 November, the urban partnership on affordable housing met in Geneva. The meeting took place alongside the UNECE Committee of Housing and Land Management and Housing Focal Points ministerial meeting. During the meeting, the coordinators reported on the progress on developing the action plan. The subgroup on state aid discussed the workshop for cities and housing providers to take place in spring 2018. Poznan presented how current VAT regulation lifts prices of affordable housing and made a case for revision of the VAT directive. Alongside the partnership meeting, EUROCITIES and UNECE ran a workshop on greenfield and brownfield investment for affordable housing, showcasing practices from Vienna, Poznan and Glasgow.
5. The State of Housing in the EU 2017
On 17 October, the Housing Europe Observatory has launched the 2017 edition of the ‘State of Housing in the EU’ proving that Europe’s housing challenge is far from over. Housing has become the highest expenditure for Europeans and overburden rate remains stable at high level. The report shows that house prices are growing faster than income in most member states, the level of housing construction is still low, while inequality and housing exclusion are mutually reinforcing. The political response to Europe’s housing challenge remains poor, a fact reflected in increasing levels of homelessness. Only cities, that are at the forefront of the housing crisis, are showing a more prominent role in finding solutions.Read more.
6. Towards a European Agenda for Housing
On 1 December, the Committee of the Regions discussed the report ‘Towards a European Agenda for Housing’. The report aims to coordinate various EU policy objectives on affordable housing, especially in the EU Urban Agenda, the EU Semestre, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the state aid package. Read more
7. Investment in social infrastructure
On 23 January, the high-level task force on investing in social infrastructure in Europe, published a report that looks at investing in social infrastructure in Europe including affordable housing. The report concludes that there is a big gap in social infrastructure, estimated at EUR 100-150 billion per year, and local governments are the most affected given an investment drop of 12% in 2015 compared with pre-2008. The report calls for the launch and implementation of an ambitious strategy to boost long-term investment in social infrastructure in Europe. EUROCITIES was present at the launch event. Read more.
9. Working plan for working group housing for 2018
- focus on innovative finance mechanism for affordable housing with four priorities:
- partnerships with the private sector for more affordable housing
- mobilisation of private investment
- framework conditions for public-private partnerships
- cooperation with the EU institutions in the framework of the Urban Agenda
- collaboration with the working group Homelessness on strategies to prevent evictions, which is an overlapping topic affecting both working groups and therefore could be explored together with a focus on identifying policy tools used by cities and to evaluate their impact.
Upcoming meetings:- Conference organised by the Committee of the Regions and Housing Europe: ‘EU Pillar of Social Rights: Writing a new chapter in the EU story? Access to social housing and EU funds post-2020’ – 8 March, Brussels
- WG Housing meeting - 18-19 June, in Dublin. Topic: innovative finance mechanisms for affordable housing.
- International Conference ‘Housing for All. Affordable Housing in Growing Cities’ -4-5 December, Vienna
- WG Housing meeting - 6-7 December, Vienna
Homelessness
1. Working group homelessness - 23-24 October, Gothenburg
The meeting focused on the implementation of the Housing First model across European cities and learned about the projects to tackle homelessness in Gothenburg. In the light of evidence about the positive impact of Housing First in addressing homelessness, more and more cities are interested in the implementation of such programmes.
2. Commission launched the Energy Poverty Observatory
On 29 January, the European Commission launched the EU Energy Poverty Observatory. The Observatory is a platform that offers technical assistance to member states, a space of sharing the knowledge and gathering data, and unique resource for policy making. Commissioner Cañete recognised that cities have a long-running partnership with the Commission and he announced that the EU Covenant of Mayors will work with the Observatory on a joint pilot project on buildings and insulation. EUROCITES spoke at the event and sent a clear message that this new observatory should be linked to the European Pillar of Social Rights. Read more.
3. The urban poverty partnership
The final action plan of the urban poverty partnership was officially submitted to the Bulgarian Presidency in January 2018. The action plan features 12 actions that aim to contribute to reducing poverty and improving the social inclusion in urban areas across the EU. One cluster of actions aim at ending homelessness. Read the final action plan here.
4. Working plan for working group homelessness for 2018
- focus on inclusion of homeless people into the labour market, in the context of Housing First and beyond, including subjects such as the peer employees, and aiming to explore the range of tools used by cities to prevent evictions (joint meeting with working group Housing).
Upcoming meetings:- FEANTSA: ‘Third Overview of Housing Exclusion in Europe 2018’ -21 March, Brussels
- WG Homelessness meeting –Lyon, June (TBC). Topic:inclusion of homeless people into the labour market
This event has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020). For further information, please consult:
WG updates, SAFUtrecht, March 2018