The EU is facing an increasingly worrying housing crisis, with average rents rising by almost 23 percent and house prices by almost 48 percent between 2010 and the end of 2023, according to the latest data published by Eurostat.
Greece was the only member state to see a fall in rental prices over the period, while others such as Estonia (207 percent), Lithuania (172 percent) and Ireland (102 percent) saw the highest increases.
“This is not the phenomenon of one or two cities in Europe or of one or two countries in Europe,” Portuguese MEP Pedro Marques, a deputy with the Socialist & Democrat group, told EUobserver in an interview.
“Basically, everywhere where there is a city with some significant concentration of people, the costs have gone up, the prices of the houses were going up, and then suddenly there goes the interest rates, there goes the mortgage payment, and people are suffering a lot,” he added.
The most vulnerable and the youngest in Europe are among those most affected by the housing crisis. Europeans now leave their parental home at an average age of 26.4 years, and citizens are increasingly concerned about the difficulties of finding adequate and affordable housing.
According to the pre-election Eurobarometer poll which was published last week, a third of European citizens would like to see the fight against poverty and social exclusion emerge as a key issue ahead of the June European elections - and almost a quarter of respondents said that the lack of social housing and homelessness were among their top five concerns at national level, a recent EU survey found.
So what's causing the problem, and what and where are the possible solutions?
“I think housing policy neglect has been a big part of it since the 90s,” said Sorcha Edwards, general secretary at Housing Europe, representing public, cooperative, and social housing providers.
As a result, the housing stock is insufficient to meet citizens' needs, with little variety apart from that provided by the private market.
In member states such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Spain, for example, the share of social housing accounts for less than two percent of the total housing stock.
“[Housing] was seen as a sector that would regulate itself,” she added, stressing that a new paradigm is needed in Europe to give people back the choice of how and where they want to live.
Only a few EU countries, including France, Finland and Ireland offer subsidised rent to a considerable share of households. According to figures published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2020, between 17-18 percent of households rent in the subsidised sector in these countries.
Meanwhile, the ‘Housing First’ strategy has produced positive results in member states like Finland, and non-profit housing providers in Denmark, which provide a fifth of all homes in the country, and offer special 'youth' housing for those still in education or young people with particular needs.
“Why not pick up good ideas and spread those ideas, build capacity to make it happen elsewhere?” Edwards asked.
EU housing ministers resumed joint discussions on European challenges in housing policy in 2022 after a decade of stasis.
“We don't buy into the idea that the EU cannot do anything (...) It will always be something that will be handled with the regions and the local seats in the cities, but you can do much more from the European level,” argues Marques.
The socialist MEP believes that more support could be given to regions and cities through EU funding, as well as further intervention to regulate the private sector or provide a framework for it.
Over the past year, countries such as Portugal, Ireland and Italy have seen people take to the streets to protest against high prices, driven by the proliferation of short-term holiday rentals, a shortage of housing and a pressing cost of living crisis, among a range of factors.
In Ireland, meanwhile, media reports indicate growing anti-immigrant sentiment fuelled by rising prices and the housing crisis.
In the Netherlands, which also has a housing shortage, the issue of affordable housing was one of the key elements in the campaign leading up to last November's elections, won by the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV).
"The far right is using this to create a perception among local citizens that prices are going up because of these migrants coming in, which is not the case," Marques warned.
Yet the issue is nowhere to be found in the EU's draft strategic agenda for the next five years, which is expected to be adopted at the June European Council.
However, European political parties from the left to the right have included housing policy in their manifestos in the run-up to the elections in June, hoping to mobilise more citizens to vote.
Housing Europe welcomes the recognition of the problem and the number of proposals to tackle it, even if the interpretation of the causes and the opportunities differ.
"We want some alignment of that and we definitely don't want this scapegoating of migration and green policies," Edwards said, noting that housing should not be a political issue.
Paula joined EUobserver in January 2023 and left for Euronews in 2024. Previously she worked for the Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial, where she covered mainly economic and financial affairs.
Paula joined EUobserver in January 2023 and left for Euronews in 2024. Previously she worked for the Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial, where she covered mainly economic and financial affairs.