Dear Members of the Committees on Employment and Social Affairs and on the Housing Crisis in the European Union,

Thank you so much for inviting me to address you today.

I am grateful to you for raising awareness of the housing crisis and its relation to demographic trends.

 

As you know, I have been working on Demography already in the last mandate and continue to be the responsible Commissioner.

We are all aware that demographic trends and ageing in Europe have profound implications.

  • Demographic change exacerbates labour shortages and impacts our competitiveness.
  • We need upgraded facilities capacity and more people working in medical and long-term care, to name just two sectors. And
  • the sustainability of our pension systems is under considerable pressure.


What is often overlooked, however, are the links between demography and housing.

  • Families will not settle down, grow, and enlarge, if there is no sufficient housing for them or if it is not affordable.
  • There is also a lack of affordable housing for students. We need highly skilled youngsters to achieve productivity gains. However, if there is not enough housing, students will turn away or study under sub-optimal conditions.
  • The design of housing must change to meet the needs of all generations. Barrier-free housing can help strengthen inter-generational family ties. It can also help maintain a good level of every-day mobility for the elderly and even reduce the need for care in retirement homes.
  • Labour migration also relies on housing. Attracting international talent to help fill the labour shortage gaps we cannot fill domestically is crucial for our economies. So, we must ensure access to housing for labour migrants.

At the same time, however, we must ensure that the local residents can afford housing – I always mention the example of Ireland where housing became too expensive in Dublin when the big tech companies came.

 

There is no uniform way forward, and we have various policy options.

Under my responsibility, the Commission made several recommendations to tackle demographic trends in the Demography Toolbox.

We want to close the so-called fertility gap, which is the difference between the desired and the actual number of children. Measures include quality childcare to avoid “either-or” decisions of women who want to follow a career path and have children.

Another idea is multi-generational housing. Such houses are central meeting places promoting social cohesion between generations.

 

But more should and will be done on housing.

Still this year, the Commission is going to present two concrete initiatives:

  • the first-ever Affordable Housing Plan [put together by my dear colleague Dan Jørgensen] after receiving the input from you in the European Parliament. We need a radical overhaul of our approach to housing including revised state-aid rules for housing support. And
  • a legal initiative on short-term rentals to make sure there is enough long-term housing for the local population.

 

I will continue to work on bringing the Member States and all stakeholders together to tackle the housing crisis.

We need a lot of exchange of best practice, experience, and expert advice.

 

Todays hearing will be a very helpful contribution.

Thank you for organising it. I look forward to receiving your conclusions and to continue working with you on this topic so important for our social fabric.

Thank you.