Mayors of EU capitals put pressure on leaders: housing crisis on European Council agenda

Brussels – Unity is strength. Or “one for all, all for one”, as summarised by Roberto Gualtieri, the mayor of Rome, during the joint press conference with his counterparts from Paris and Barcelona and the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa. The
Mayors4Housing alliance, which brings together the first citizens of 17 European capitals and metropolitan cities, has succeeded in bringing the housing emergency from the local to the EU level: for the first time, the housing crisis and the EU Housing Plan promised by Ursula von der Leyen will be discussed at the European Council by the heads of state and government, next 23–24 October. 

Today (30 September), Costa received an Alliance delegation in Brussels, led by Gualtieri, Anne Hidalgo and Jaume Collboni. After a year of pressure from the first citizens, the time seems ripe for Brussels to enter an area hitherto the prerogative of the member states only. “It is clear that, from Dublin to Athens, we are going through a housing crisis at all levels,” acknowledged Costa, who admitted that this issue affects everyone, from the homeless to the middle class, passing through the poorest citizens, young people, and students. 

Interventions must also be on different levels. There is the issue of state aid to be addressed, short rentals to be regulated, and above all, financing solutions to be found. The willingness on Brussels’ part is evident: for the first time, a dedicated European Commissioner, Dan Jorgensen, has been appointed, and a special commission led by the Dem Irene Tinagli has been set up in the EU Parliament. However, according to the Alliance’s calculations, a fund of $ 300 billion is needed. 

For Hidalgo, mayor of the Ville Lumière for more than ten years, it is necessary to link the “local, national and European” levels, together with the construction sector, and work together. During her two terms as mayoress of Paris, she invested three billion in social housing: now “25 per cent of housing” in the capital is social. But this is not enough. Because, as Catalan Collboni pointed out, today access to housing “is the main source of inequality” in Europe. 

The housing crisis is at once “social, economic and of identity,” warned Gualtieri. It has “political and security implications,” undermining the foundations of societies on the Old Continent. If mayors are on the front line, the resources for a European crisis must come from Brussels. “Houses can be built, renovated, bought, but we need support,” explained the mayor of Rome, who has twice served as an MEP in Brussels. 

A crucial and controversial issue is the regulation of short-term rentals. In the European Parliament, it is already a matter of debate, while Jorgensen assured yesterday (29 September) that action must be taken “firmly and fairly.” Some mayors have their hands tied, because not all member states have legislated on the matter. For Collboni, who in Barcelona declared war on bed and breakfasts and aims to eliminate them by 2028, the impact of tourist accommodation in European capitals is “very negative not only on the right to housing but also on traditional commerce and the identity of cities.” 

In the mayors’ plan, already submitted to Jorgensen and illustrated to Costa today, there’s the idea of redirecting unspent resources from the NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Cohesion Fund in the short term, and then dedicating a part of the next multiannual financial framework to housing. “We are encouraging the European institutions to make it a priority; it is important that the next European Council says it out loud,” Gualtieri stressed again.