\n<\/p>\n
The soaring cost of housing is akin to a \u201cnew pandemic\u201d sweeping across Europe, the mayor of Barcelona has said, as he and 16 other city leaders urged the EU to respond to the crisis by unleashing billions in funding for the hardest-hit areas.<\/p>\n
The EU is expected to present its first-ever housing plan on Tuesday, after consultations with experts, stakeholders and the public. For months, those on the frontlines of the crisis have warned the problem is too big to ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new pandemic affecting European cities is called the cost of housing,\u201d said Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona, who launched the Mayors for Housing alliance last year with the support of his counterparts in Paris and Rome.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Jaume Collboni described the housing crisis as an unprecedented internal threat to the bloc.<\/span> Photograph: S\u00e1shenka Guti\u00e9rrez\/EPA<\/p>\n \u201cAnd in the face of this new pandemic, European institutions \u2013 as they did with Covid \u2013 must allocate extraordinary funds to promote the construction of affordable housing for young people, working families and the urban middle classes.\u201d<\/p>\n For the past year, the alliance \u2013 whose 17 mayors represent more than 20 million people \u2013 has been calling on the EU to do more to address what they describe as a \u201csocial emergency\u201d: the rocketing cost of property and rents, which they say has sown inequality, strained the social fabric and, in some cases, contributed to support for the far right.<\/p>\n In October, after a sustained campaign of letter-writing and meetings with senior EU officials, the alliance welcomed the fact that housing policy \u2013 an area the EU has traditionally stayed out of \u2013 was firmly on the bloc\u2019s agenda. \u201cNow that has to translate into resources,\u201d Collboni said in an interview.<\/p>\n From Athens to Amsterdam, and Bologna to Budapest, the mayors are calling on the EU to launch an affordable housing fund, similar to the Covid-era NextGenerationEU programme, to help mobilise at least \u20ac300bn a year in public and private investment to bolster social and affordable housing. They also want the bloc\u2019s officials to draw on their local experience by giving them a seat at the decision-making table.<\/p>\n <\/span>Budapest, Hungary. The city\u2019s mayor, Gergely Kar\u00e1csony, has joined calls for an affordable housing fund.<\/span> Photograph: Zoltan Gabor\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n House prices across the EU have soared by 48% between 2010 and 2023, according to Eurostat, while rents increased 22% over the same period. By 2023, nearly one in 10 people were spending 40% or more of their disposable income on housing, including 29% of the population in Greece, 15% in Denmark and 13% in Germany.<\/p>\n Collboni described the housing crisis as an unprecedented internal threat to the bloc, warning that failure to address it adequately could lead people to question whether democracies were capable of solving their biggest problems.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the same way that the war in Ukraine and the threat from Russia are always explained as a fundamental challenge to European values and democracies, so is the cost of housing,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it needs to be given the same priority.\u201d<\/p>\n In October, the EU\u2019s first housing commissioner, Dan J\u00f8rgensen, said the EU executive was preparing to tackle the \u201chuge problem\u201d of short-term rentals.<\/p>\n <\/span>A banner erected on Metropoliz, a former salami factory on the edge of Rome that was occupied by dozens of homeless families in 2020, reads: \u2018Everything will be fine with income and homes for all!\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Simona Granati\/Corbis\/Getty<\/p>\n In Barcelona, where the average price of a home has soared by nearly 70% in the past decade, forcing some out of the city and leaving others grappling with disproportionate costs, Collboni was in no doubt about the role the EU and its institutions must play in addressing the crisis.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cWhen it comes down to it, we\u2019re defending the right to stay in our city. These institutions, which for 40 to 50 years have been guaranteeing the right of movement for capital and people, now have to help us guarantee the right to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n Failure to do so, he warned, risked ceding ground to populists who were seeking to exploit public discontent by scapegoating rather than offering workable solutions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot remain stuck in the rhetoric of defending democracy, inclusive societies and equal opportunities if people\u2019s standard of living is getting worse,\u201d Collboni said. \u201cIf even with a stable job and a stable salary people cannot live with a minimum level of normalcy, then the discourse falls apart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The soaring cost of housing is akin to a \u201cnew pandemic\u201d sweeping across Europe, the mayor of Barcelona has said, as he and 16 other city leaders urged the EU to respond to the crisis by unleashing billions in funding for the hardest-hit areas. 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