America News Agency

The broad legislative package aims to unlock public resources for new housing, rein in short-term rental practices, and cut administrative procedures for construction projects.

Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said, “Europe must collectively take responsibility for the housing crisis affecting millions of our citizens and act,” noting that housing prices across the bloc have risen by more than 60% over the past decade. “Housing is not just a commodity: it is a fundamental right.”

Dan Jørgensen warned that if the EU fails to act, it risks “leaving a vacuum in which far-right political forces will seize power by exploiting voter discontent.”

The Commission’s plan includes revising state aid rules to explicitly allow public funds to be used for affordable housing construction in order to expand housing stocks. The new rules would enable national governments to inject cash into housing for middle-class families increasingly priced out of the market.

The Commission, working with the European Investment Bank, national banks and other financial institutions, will also mobilize public and private funding for new social and affordable housing through a Europe-wide investment platform. The construction of such housing will be listed as a specific objective in national partnership plans that member states will use to distribute EU funds allocated to them in the Union’s next seven-year budget.

To further boost supply, the plan includes a new European Housing Construction Strategy aimed at simplifying and digitizing permitting processes; this strategy will be complemented by a housing simplification package in 2027.

Brussels is also proposing measures to create common standards for building materials and to make major investments to modernize the bloc’s construction sector. Similarly, it foresees a Construction Services Act to be presented in late 2026, enabling construction firms to provide cross-border services while ensuring labor and working standards.

To help ensure homes are sold at fair prices, the plan proposes tackling the broader problem of speculation through a careful analysis of the housing market. Over the next year, the Commission will collect data on the scale of a phenomenon that leads vital housing to be treated “like gold or Bitcoin and other investments made solely for profit.”