Tightening EU digital rules can boost housing affordability
Brussels, 18 November 2020 | Published in Economy, Social
On 18th November, the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament and the Housing Solutions Platform organised an online webinar to discuss the possibilities for regulating online short-term rentals and how EU rules can unlock housing affordability.
The problem has been here for a while. Alice Corona, from the CIvic Observatory on home and residence in Venice shared figures showing that the old part of the town has as many short-term rented beds as there are for full-time residents, making monthly net earnings for AirBnB are a lot higher than traditional renting. Having experienced the same challenge, the City of Barcelona has introduced a series of measures in the 5 years - prohibiting the growth of new city rentals, taking off illegal short-term rented flats from the Internet, adding more control and inspection. “When you have these new phenomenons like Airbnb, you are putting more pressure on the private rental market, which in turn puts more pressure on social housing providers,” our member, Virginie Toussain from l'Union Sociale pour l'Habitat (USH) in France also stressed.
In conclusion, MEP Kim van Sparrentak (the Greens/Netherlands) concluded by saying that the Digital Services Act package that will be put forward by the European Commission in the coming days can increase transparency, require registration numbers, a simple online register for rentals and data sharing that is in line with GDPR rules.
The Housing Solutions Platform
To watch the Online Webinar