Resource context
European Affordable Housing Plan – Response to Call for Evidence is a policy brief published by the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), an international non-profit association based in Brussels. The document is presented as an EEB response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on a European Affordable Housing Plan, and it frames housing affordability and housing quality as closely linked to energy use, health, and environmental impacts. The Authors field is not named in the record.
Scale and drivers of Europe’s affordability crisis
The text states that 8.8% of the EU population spends more than 40% of disposable income on housing. Between 2010 and 2021, average house prices increased by 37% and rents by 16%. It links worsening conditions to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, and cites sharp increases in youth homelessness in specific cities: in Madrid, youth homelessness rose by 10% since 2021, and in Dublin it rose by 50% in the past year. The paper argues that affordability is not only a supply issue: it notes that between 2011 and 2022 dwellings per capita increased in the EU, while property prices rose by 50% over the decade, pointing to inefficient use, inequality, and the treatment of housing as a commodity as contributing factors.
Energy inefficiency, energy poverty, and health impacts
EEB emphasizes that poor-quality, poorly insulated housing increases energy bills and harms health. It states that around 75% of the existing EU building stock is energy inefficient and that space heating accounts for as much as two thirds of residential energy demand. The document also reports that children growing up in cold homes are more than twice as likely to suffer respiratory diseases, and it attributes around €194 billion per year in public health costs to inadequate housing, with vulnerable households affected most severely. It also notes that about 42 million EU residents were unable to keep homes adequately warm in 2022.
Environmental and resource implications of the buildings sector
The paper positions housing policy as central to climate and resource goals. It states that almost one-third of Europe’s environmental footprint comes from buildings, that buildings represent 42% of the EU’s annual energy demand, and that the sector accounts for around 33% of Europe’s waste. It also warns that urban sprawl and poor planning harm biodiversity and associated ecosystem services such as air and water quality and resilience to extreme weather.
A “sufficiency” approach and priority actions for the European Affordable Housing Plan
EEB welcomes the EAHP as an opportunity to address social, economic and environmental dimensions together, and it recommends a comprehensive approach focused on “sufficiency” and better use of existing buildings. It calls for improved data on building use (vacancy and under-occupation), common EU definitions, and a legally binding obligation for Member States to monitor residential and non-residential building usage, with an indicative target of full municipal coverage by 2028. It highlights potential in existing stock: 16% of EU dwellings were estimated to be vacant in 2011; it cites 4,500 long-term empty homes in Brussels (2024), 10,000 in Berlin, and 18,600 in Paris (2021). It adds that underoccupied homes could house an additional 100 million people (about 23% of the EU population), and notes opportunities to convert non-residential buildings, citing an average European office occupancy rate of 57% in September 2023.
Fiscal measures, renovation investment, and safeguards
Proposed measures include vacancy taxation based on potential rental income; the document points to France’s vacancy tax model (starting at 17% in year one and rising to 34% in later years) and reports a 13% vacancy decrease by 2001 after introduction. It also calls to prioritise primary housing and better regulate non-housing uses (including short-term rentals and secondary residences), citing examples such as a Swiss second-home quota rule and Hamburg’s permit requirement for using dwellings for other purposes. For investment, EEB proposes allocating a fixed share (e.g., 20%) of a pan-European investment platform to renovate, reuse and repurpose vacant and under-occupied properties into energy-efficient, affordable units, targeting at least 100,000 conversions by 2030, with social safeguards to protect vulnerable households and avoid “renovictions.” It also cites evidence of wider benefits, including a 2020 BPIE finding that every €1 million invested in energy renovation creates an average of 18 long-term jobs.