EU housing plan could make the crisis worse, scholars warn
More than 50 academics from across the European Union have issued a sharp warning that the European Commission’s new housing strategy risks worsening the continent’s affordability crisis rather than easing it, arguing the plan prioritises market logic and investor interests over the needs of ordinary residents.
The alarm comes as Brussels moves to unveil its affordable housing strategy through a series of consultations with the European Parliament and city mayors. Yet scholars contend that the European Affordable Housing Plan rests on a flawed diagnosis and fails to draw on the substantial body of existing housing research.
In a formal letter addressed to EU Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, the signatories argue that framing the crisis as a straightforward imbalance between housing supply and demand obscures the deeper structural shifts that have reshaped European property markets since the 1980s.
“Treating the housing crisis as a temporary supply-demand imbalance overlooks the structural transformations that have reshaped European housing systems since the 1980s,” the academics write.
The scholars are particularly critical of what they see as an approach engineered to serve investors and the real estate sector rather than those in acute housing need. Without robust regulatory safeguards and a substantial public and non-profit housing sector, they argue, the Commission’s strategy could intensify rather than alleviate displacement and social exclusion.
“Without strong regulatory safeguards and a broad public and non-profit housing sector, this approach intensifies, rather than alleviates, exclusion and displacement,” their letter states.
A Market-Driven Plan in the Midst of a Structural Crisis
The academics are calling on member states to move beyond vague references to affordability and instead commit to building a genuine public housing sector capable of shielding households from the speculative pressures of an increasingly financialised property market.
The scale of the challenge is considerable. According to Eurostat figures, housing prices across the EU rose by 53 percent between 2010 and 2024, while rents climbed 25 percent over the same period.
The Commission’s plan promises support for young people and the homeless, tighter rules on short-term tourist rentals, mobilisation of European funds including InvestEU and cohesion funds, the creation of a pan-European investment platform, and a reduction of red tape to accelerate construction and renovation.
Critics, however, contend that many of those pledges remain vague and lack concrete enforcement mechanisms. Notably absent is any clear framework for rent control or strengthened tenant protections — a significant omission given the sharp rise in housing costs across much of the continent.
