European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen met youth representatives in Brussels on 27 March to discuss housing pressures facing young people across Europe.
The Housing Youth Policy Dialogue was organised with Generation Climate Europe and brought together participants including student representatives and people working in social policy, architecture and urban planning, the European Commission informed on Wednesday.
The discussion focused on “Pillar Four” of the European Affordable Housing Plan, which addresses support for people most severely affected by the housing crisis.
Participants raised concerns about young people from disadvantaged backgrounds being excluded, which they said can create barriers to education, traineeships and employment.
Housing speculation, the financialisation of housing — treating homes as financial assets — and rental rights were also raised during the talks.
Jørgensen said there was an urgent need to increase investment in student housing through the EU’s InvestEU programme and a Pan-European Investment Platform, as set out in action 9 of the European Affordable Housing Plan.
Calls for rental guarantees and support for disadvantaged students
Youth representatives urged work on additional measures in the plan, including assessing a rental guarantee scheme that could reduce or remove the need for a security deposit, the Commission said.
They also called for a pilot scheme under Erasmus+ — the EU’s education and student mobility programme — for mobile students from disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as “more innovative accommodation models” and targeted schemes to improve access to housing for students and young people.
The youth participants said the meeting was a starting point for further work and summed up their position by saying: “the housing crisis will not be solved for us, but with us.”
