Providing adequate housing
for all

Official figures show one in ten EU households spent over 40% of their income on housing costs in 2018, 15.5% of households lived in overcrowded conditions, 13.9% lived in damp housing, and 4% experienced severe housing deprivation. In short, unfit housing conditions remain a harsh reality, particularly in Eastern European countries. Moreover, with an income gap of 16% and a pension gap of over 30% between women and men, the housing crisis has a female face – as Michaela Kauer, Coordinator of the EU Urban Agenda Housing Partnership, described at the 2020 European Week of Regions and Cities.

Poor households are eight times more likely to be overburdened by housing costs than non-poor households – and the pandemic has exacerbated these conditions. Children are particularly vulnerable to housing exclusion: at EU level, the overcrowding rate is higher for households with children (21.9%) compared to the general population (15.5%). People with an activity limitation, especially young people, are more likely to be overburdened by housing costs and to experience severe housing deprivation. Meanwhile, Europe’s inadequate reception and unsuitable accommodation systems for migrant populations put asylum seekers at a greater risk of experiencing homelessness.

In the context of the public health crisis, many public authorities have taken exceptional measures to protect vulnerable people, both in rental and homeownership sectors: these include moratoria on rental payments, bans on evictions, protection of tenants in rental housing, mortgage payment referrals, temporary accommodation for people experiencing homelessness, suspending disconnections from utilities or discounting utility bills et al. For example, in Barcelona rent moratorium was established for properties owned by the Barcelona Municipal Housing and Rehabilitation institute. In Nantes (FR) financial support has been provided for low-income tenants through a housing solidarity fund.

Some of these progressive measures had been recommended for years, and the pandemic made them possible in a short time. As matter of fact, the health crisis has created a precedent, demonstrating that when the political will and resources are mobilised, housing can be secured and homelessness can be ended.

However, when these emergency measures are lifted, a sudden rise is expected in the number of people at risk of eviction, leading to a surge in homeless numbers. The challenge now for public authorities is to turn recent improvements into long-term policies, as FEANTSA called for in its 2020 #hotelstohomes campaign. Plans to keep homelessness down in the future have been announced by national, regional and city authorities. In the UK for instance, Liverpool developed a GBP 1.4 billion recovery plan, which includes the development of more than 200 new modular homes and community centres. Four thousand homes will also be renovated for vulnerable households in the most deprived neighbourhoods, which are also most at risk from COVID-19. This work is estimated to create 25 600 jobs, 12 000 of them in construction, as highlighted in an OECD presentation at the European Week of Regions and Cities. The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced in February 2021 the approval of EUR 5.3 billion to strengthen investment in public services, EUR 1.8 billion of which is for urban services including social housing. The EIB board agreed to back sustainable urban investment in Greece and Poland and financing for social and affordable housing in the Italian region of Lombardy and across Spain. While the recovery package offers opportunities for further investments in the housing sector, the question remains as to how countries will spend these funds to secure adequate and accessible housing, especially for the most vulnerable.

Source: OECD (2020), Housing Amid COVID-19: Policy Responses and Challenges.