European Pillar of Social Rights and housing - does it work?
Housing Europe contributes to key meetings in Brussels
Brussels, 14 March 2019 | Published in Social
As the debate around the actual implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights is gaining momentum in Brussels, Housing Europe took part over the last couple of weeks in two key meetings to feed the debate.
Our Deputy Secretary General, Julien Dijol contributed to a discussion at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) about the Pillar and the Roma strategies. The first panel where Julien spoke focused on the impact of the Pillar where Julien stressed that the Pillar seems to have strengthened the focus on social/affordable housing, although it is maybe because the actual situation is worsening and/or because we are in an election year.
In the discussion Julien highlighted that the examples from the CEE countries (with big Roma population) show that without a national/regional housing policy, municipalities are left without resources and without guidance on how to supply affordable housing. Legislative framework at national level combined with resources from Structural Funds and the EIB are essential.
Our Research Director, Alice Pittini attended the Civil Society Round Table Review on Youth Challenges organised by the European Commission DG EMPL. The closed meeting brought together Commission representatives, civil society organisations including Housing Europe and a number of national organisations from EU Member States mainly working on youth – among them one of the members of Legacoop Abitanti in Milan.
The national organisations were asked to comment on youth challenges form their perspective and in relation to the semester country reports. Housing Europe highlighted (from the ‘Housing the EU Youth’ briefing, which was circulated to participants)
- the importance of housing for young people as first step into independent life
- that housing is needed to access education and jobs
- the fact that ‘youth’ includes different people with different needs (students, young professionals…) and that there are examples from our sector, for instance on combining housing with employment/training
- that current dynamics in housing markets mean that housing is most expensive where opportunities are concentrated and even the world bank thinks this is exacerbating inequalities and hitting young people hardest
You may have a look at Alice’s presentation below.