The EU Committee of the Regions will develop a position on green affordable housing
The rapporteur is Housing Europe's member from Estonia
Brussels/Tallinn, 23 October 2023 | Published in Future of the EU & Housing
Housing Europe’s Board member from Estonia, Andres Jaadla has officially been nominated to be EU's Committee of the Regions rapporteur on smart, sustainable and affordable housing and the way that can be a tool for local authorities to face reverse demographic trends and contribute to climate objectives. This would allow the EU institution to adopt a new comprehensive position on the topic since 2017, when we the world was a quite different place.
With this opinion, the Committee of the Regions would take stock of the ongoing initiatives related to housing, look at the situation on the ground and call for a substantial new investment and policy focus on both private and public housing, which could boost the local economic base and help reverse demographic trends; it could help cities and regions do their part to respect international obligations regarding reception and integration of refugees, it could mean a critical contribution to the climate objectives and bolster our climate resilience in the face of increasingly frequent catastrophic events, which the existing housing stock is ill-equipped to face.
The opinion would reflect on the first year of the New European Bauhaus, which was launched in 2022 and has already mobilised over 100 million EUR through diverse MFF programmes. At the same time, the persisting obstacles, such as state-aid rules, land zoning and planning permits and administrative burdens, would also be on the table for discussion.