The new EU Affordable Housing Act: What will future historians say about it?
It’s almost become a fact of being young. Housing is either too expensive, too insecure, or nowhere near as abundant as it needs to be. Stories of parents buying homes in years gone with normal salaries have now cemented themselves firmly in the realm of fiction.
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The newly published EU Affordable Housing Act sets out the European Commission's legal response to the crisis. The idea is to give national, regional, and local governments more legal power to tackle the ills of a failing housing system.
In 100 years, historians might reflect on how the EU Affordable Housing Act actually addressed the crisis. Based on the substance of the proposal it would be naive to speculate they would be overly impressed. Best case they might say it was a start, so here’s hoping.
There are, to be fair, some things to like. The Act gives governments and local authorities more room to crack down on second homes, speculative investment and Airbnb-style rentals when they push up housing costs. For young people competing with investors for somewhere to live, that could go a long way. So does giving cities more power to respond when housing becomes unaffordable.
But there is a catch that's difficult to overlook. The bar for action is very high, and the proposed affordability thresholds risk recognising a crisis only after young people have already been priced out. If you are spending half your income on rent, constantly worried about being told by your landlord to move out, or giving up on the idea of ever owning a home, you probably don't need an EU threshold to tell you there is a problem.
And this is where the Act falls short of the mark. It says a lot more about when governments can restrict the housing market than how they can change it. There is little on building social housing, controlling rents, strengthening tenants' rights or investing public money in homes that create public value. We need to re-write how housing works, not just tinker with the worst elements of a crisis.
So, good news? Yes, in parts. Enough to fix the housing crisis facing young people? Let’s see. Those future historians might have to wait for the sequel!
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