The Shift is working to ensure the human right to housing stands at the foundation of the European Union’s first-ever Affordable Housing Plan, a historic moment as the EU steps into housing policy after a long precedent of the opposite. Through our Taskforce on Sustainable Affordable Housing, created alongside the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), the PreDistribution Initiative, the International Union of Tenants, and the World Benchmarking Alliance. European Project Director Marta Ribera Carbó submitted recommendations to the EU’s first and second call for evidence, emphasizing that housing must be treated as a right, not a commodity.
Marta then brought our message directly to the European Parliament, participating in the Greens/EFA Housing Summit “Rethinking Housing Together” earlier this month. During the plenary session on dismantling financialisation and speculation, she presented the evidence: institutional investment in residential real estate in Europe exploded from 6.6% in 2013 to 22.7% in 2023. These actors don’t just drive up prices; they set industry standards and legitimize treating housing as a commodity rather than a human right.
Our recommendations to the EU are clear:
- Recognize financialisation and speculation as the primary causes of the crisis
- Implement anti-speculative regulations like rent caps and tenant protections alongside any construction efforts
- Prioritize rehabilitating existing housing stock, and ensure that any private capital in the Pan-European Investment Platform serves long-term affordable housing, not short-term profit extraction.
This rights-based approach stands in stark contrast to preliminary proposals, like that from MEP Borja Giménez Larraz that prioritize private sector profits over social housing protections, and vilify immigrants and squatters. We remain hopeful that the EU will choose a path grounded in human rights rather than market ideology and discrimination, creating a housing system that truly serves people and the planet.
