“We are seeing an increase in the difficulties faced by low-income households and young people in accessing housing struggling to secure what is, fundamentally, a basic need.”
Coppieters Foundation and Fundació Irla promote debate on sustainable housing policies in Europe.
Access to housing is an essential pillar of society, millions of Europeans live, work, and imagine their future based on the assumption they will have access to suitable housing. However, weak public investment, deregulation, and the expansion of short-term rentals have characterized housing policies across Europe in the last decades and as a result, the continent is now facing a housing crisis that challenges affordability and access to homes, especially in high-density cities.
Rising prices, weak public investment, and the growing dominance of speculative dynamics have turned what should be a basic right into a growing source of inequality.
Against this backdrop, the Coppieters Foundation and Fundació Irla organised the event “target 25%: Housing as a Social Good”, bringing together the authors of the policy paper with the same name: Ferran Elies, David Palomera, and Marta Ribera propose public policies targeted at ensuring that 25% of housing in Europe is publicly or community owned.
“We are seeing an increase in the difficulties faced by low-income households and young people in accessing housing struggling to secure what is, fundamentally, a basic need.”
David Palomera, author of target 25% at event in Barcelona.
In the paper the authors identify a trend in public policies that are increasingly failing to provide one of the basic conditions for a dignified life: a stable and affordable home. This issue affects people at every stage of life, from students to young workers, to families and the elderly. Moreover, this has an impact in development of communities, participation and local level democracy and culture, that come under increasing pressure to keep the social fabric that defines them.
“Housing policies cannot focus only on investment. We also need regulatory measures that prevent housing from being used for speculative purposes.”
Marta Ribera emphasised this point at target 25% debate in Barcelona.
A key aspect of their argument is that measures to promote investment in the construction of alone will not be sufficient. Public policies must also address the structural drivers of the housing crisis, particularly speculation.
This includes tools such as rent regulation, limits on speculative buying and selling, taxation to generate incentives to promote residential housing instead of tourist and short-term use and frameworks to ensure that housing serves residential needs first.
“This challenge requires collaboration among multiple institutions: at the European Union level, such as the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the European Commission, as well as EU Member States and regional authorities.”
Argues Ferran Elies at target 25% event in Barcelona.
The authors propose a set of concrete and interrelated measures designed to make to reaching 25% public, social, or community-owned housing stock. This would mean taking a significant share of housing out of speculative dynamics and placing it at the service of social needs and revert the trend of increasing housing insecurity.
The authors argue there is a need to share responsibility to address the challenge. Governments, European institutions, private investors, developers, and communities all have a role to play in implementing policies to reshape the housing system and make it affordable. These measure include a significant scaling up of public and social investment in housing, supported by European-level financial instruments and long-term national commitments. Second, the need for robust legislative frameworks to protect housing as a social good. Finally, the authors highlight the importance of engaging private actors in a responsible way, encouraging models that align with public interest objectives rather than short-term profit.
Together, these pillars aim to rebalance Europe’s housing systems, ensuring that access to affordable and decent housing becomes structurally embedded into political priorities and social protection policies.
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This event is a joint initiative of Fundació Irla , and Coppieters Foundation.
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This event is financially supported by the European Parliament. The European Parliament is not liable for the content of the event nor for the opinions of the speakers.
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