European Parliament adopts resolution to tackle EU housing affordability crisis

The European Parliament adopted on 10 March 2026 a resolution on the housing crisis in the European Union, proposing solutions for decent, sustainable and affordable housing. The text, based on the report of the Parliament’s Special Committee on the Housing Crisis (HOUS), was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (C series) on 26 August 2026 under reference C/2026/4004 (procedure 2025/2070(INI)).

The resolution frames the crisis as one of affordability above all, warning that millions of Europeans face precarious living conditions. It urges the European Commission to deliver an ambitious European Affordable Housing Plan, to convene a first EU housing summit and to treat housing as a social emergency, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity given that housing policy remains a Member State competence.

The scale of the crisis

The text marshals stark figures to justify EU action, drawn from Eurostat, Eurofound and the OECD:

• Rents in the EU rose by 28.8% and house prices by 60.5% between 2010 and the second quarter of 2025; in Q2 2025 rents were up 3.2% and prices 5.4% year on year.
• 10.6% of the EU’s urban population suffers housing cost overburden, spending over 40% of disposable income on housing.
• Around 1.3 million people are homeless on any given night in the EU, almost 400,000 of them children.
• Young Europeans leave the parental home on average at 26.3 years of age, and 19.5% of EU dwellings were unoccupied in 2021, a 23% increase on 2011.
• The investment gap in affordable housing is estimated at EUR 270 billion per year, while only 7% of the Recovery and Resilience Facility was spent on social housing in 2024.

Boosting supply and cutting red tape

Parliament calls on the Commission to propose a Housing Simplification Package to streamline the rules that slow construction and renovation, and urges Member States to aim for building permits within a 60-day deadline. It also backs the mobilisation of publicly owned land, “brownfield passports” for redeveloping abandoned sites, and incentives to renovate derelict and vacant homes and put them back on the market for long-term renting.

The resolution supports public, cooperative, non-profit and limited-profit housing models, and calls for a reform of the VAT Directive to allow a super-reduced rate on housing supply and renovation. It also urges stronger protection of property owners against illegal occupation, while safeguarding tenants’ rights and security of tenure.

Data, funding and vulnerable groups

The text insists that market interventions be based on reliable public data. It calls on Eurostat to collect and share housing data through a dedicated EU digital platform, for an annual European housing report, and for the creation of a European housing agency. It also asks the Commission to launch a Council recommendation on the youth housing crisis and to secure a dedicated budget of at least EUR 20 billion for the European Child Guarantee.

Funding should be consolidated across cohesion policy funds, InvestEU and NextGenerationEU, with a stronger role for the European Investment Bank and national promotional banks. The resolution also demands attention to accessible housing for persons with disabilities, age-friendly homes for older people, and housing-led strategies such as Housing First to reduce homelessness.

The resolution was forwarded to the Council, the Commission, the European Council, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, and the EU’s regional authorities. For the millions of European citizens struggling with rents, mortgages and homelessness, it sets out a concrete EU agenda to make decent, sustainable and affordable housing a reality.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C/2026/4004, 26.8.2026, C series (official reference: C/2026/4004, procedure 2025/2070(INI)).