Vestager: “Access to housing one of the challenges of the next EU mandate”

Brussels – High rent or high mortgage makes little difference: in the end, more and more Europeans are struggling to afford a home. There is an emergency that is already an everyday reality, so much so that speaking at the High-Level Forum on State Aid, Margrethe Vestager suggests putting it on the agenda of the European institutions to come as of now. The outgoing executive vice-president and head of EU Antitrust makes a premise: “We must continue to ensure that markets work for people and meet the basic needs of European citizens.” In this sense, “an example is affordable housing.”

Finding a home and, more importantly, affording it is becoming a challenge for everyone. “The issue is complex, and I foresee this as one of the challenges of the next term,” ventures Vestager, aware of a real problem and therefore no longer ignorable. Whether it is “the Airbnb effect”, whether it is the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rates and thus burden mortgages, or whether it is the need for renters to respond to the general rise in inflation through an increase, “the rent costs and house prices almost everywhere in the EU have risen over the past decade,” Vestager notes. 

Eurostat, already in early 2020, noted how, from 2017 to 2019, rents had increased by 21 per cent, while the price for a property to buy by 19 per cent. This trend has not stopped, also favoured by a pandemic crisis that has made people realise the importance of balconies or gardens by putting demand back on track.

The result, Vestager denounces, is that currently, “not only low-income but also middle-income families have difficulty paying for housing.“ This figure worries the outgoing commissioner, who is already calling on governments to work on an issue that, in terms of expertise, is more national than European. “Member states can support housing through various means, such as through ‘aid-free’ measures or as part of a service of general economic interest.”

With the European elections coming up, it is not the ideal time for getting down to work, but it is appropriate to begin thinking about it now.