Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Europe was experiencing a crisis of housing affordability largely rooted in the fallout from the global financial crisis of 2008. On any given night in 2019, nearly 700,000 people were sleeping rough in the European Union, a 70% increase since 2009. The rising commodification of housing was reflected in constantly increasing purchase and rental price indices, as well as high burdens among middle- and lower-income households, with one in ten private tenants spending more than 60% of their disposable income on housing (+9.3% since 2010). As a result of these trends, housing advocates, civil society organizations and local governments increasingly called on European institutions to stake out a position on the right to housing. In response to these pressures, initiatives like the European Pillar of Social Rights (2017) or the Housing Partnership Action Plan of the European Urban Agenda (2018)  would include access to social and affordable housing and protection from forced eviction among their principles, marking a shift from an approach to housing centred on regulating its problematic status as a commodity, towards an increasing emphasis on its social function. 

The pandemic has only amplified the urgent need for this shift. Throughout the continent, lockdowns and confinement have made housing far too palpable a need to ignore, as one cannot #StayAtHome without a home. Governments have taken exceptional measures and public discourses have changed seemingly overnight. In several Member States, evictions and foreclosures were suspended and emergency shelter, mortgage forbearances and support for utility bills were offered. Tellingly, on 21 January 2021, the European Parliament called on the European Union to push for measures to eradicate homelessness and recognize access to decent and affordable housing as an enforceable human right. Alongside the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the Renovation Wave Strategy and Next Generation EU funding, an opportunity to guarantee decent housing for all seems to have emerged. 

This webinar seeks to discuss this shift towards a new housing scenario, and how these principles can be implemented throughout the European Union. Are the existing normative and legislative frameworks in Europe adequately equipped to address the social challenges posed by the commodification of housing? To what extent can the Renovation Wave and the EU recovery funds facilitate and expand access to social and affordable housing? What role can cities play in guaranteeing decent housing for all? The event will bring together elected city officials, practitioners and scholars to address these questions and share their insights on the role of housing rights in Europe’s future.