‘EU needs to step up and play part in tackling housing crisis – outdated rules are blocking progress’, says Dublin MEP
IRELAND is in the midst of a housing crisis.
We have high interest rates, a shortage of properties, soaring rents and more than 13,000 people homeless.
We are not alone. Across Europe, housing is a burning issue among voters.
According to a recent Eurofound study, the crisis affects young people in particular, preventing them from moving out of their family home.
Between 2010 and 2019, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Belgium, Greece and Ireland faced the largest increases in people aged 25–34 living with their parents.
Meanwhile, German, Swedish and Dutch households are the worst off when it comes to property costs.
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Writing in the Irish Sun on Sunday, Fianna Fail MEP for Dublin, Barry Andrews, says it is time for a new European Commissioner on Housing.
THE European Union needs to step up and play its part in tackling the housing crisis.
While we pump record investment into building new homes in Ireland, outdated EU rules are actually blocking our progress.
It is imperative we use our position in the EU to get the best deal for our country; and that means tackling the issues that have the biggest impact on our quality of life.
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Everywhere I go in Dublin people tell me that housing is a key quality-of-life issue for them. The ability to own a property still feels out of reach for too many people.
We have produced 100,000 new homes in Ireland over the past four years, investment is at record level, but not everyone is feeling the benefit of this yet.
As an MEP I am asked, what can Europe do to help?
Unfortunately, far from helping, the EU has made it more difficult for Ireland to address some of the core issues at the heart of this crisis.
Strict EU debt rules mean that the Government cannot invest in public services like housing as much as it might want to, even when an issue reaches crisis point.
The European Commission also put up a roadblock to Ireland’s attempts to crackdown on Airbnb and other short-term let platforms.
The Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien’s plans to stop these companies from taking over the rental market were obstructed by the Commission on technical grounds.
This is one example of how a practical measure that could free up properties for people to rent as their homes, was unnecessarily de- layed by the EU.
STATE AID FLEXIBILITY NEEDED
Housing is now recognised as a EU-wide problem. While we now have Ireland back to building again, construction in other EU countries is falling.
The latest report from the independent construction market forecaster, Euroconstruct, shows that construction in Ireland is growing by 4.4 per cent, while it is declining in all other 18 countries surveyed.
And as demand outstrips supply, house prices have jumped by 40 per cent across Europe since 2016.
That is why I have called for an EU-wide Strategy on Housing. We need state aid flexibility in times of crisis.
This would allow us to invest even further in developing homes across the country.
We need support to massively ramp up funding for social housing.
We need to claim back the rental market for families, couples and individuals.
We need to support the construction sector so that they continue to make more homes in more communities.
We need reliable and streamlined data on housing demand in Ireland and across the EU to allow targeted action where it is needed most.
We need a special committee to address this cause in the European Parliament working on this issue day in, day out until all of our citizens feel the benefits.
NEW DIRECTION FOR EUROPE
An even bolder step would be to appoint a new European Commissioner for Housing to be the driving force behind these reforms.
Such a move would send out a strong message about the EU’s commitment to prioritising what has become a problem right across all Member States.
It would allow the European Parliament to fully understand the housing needs of its population and get a hold on the hurdles that are hampering the rental and housing markets in each country.
It will help countries to share successes, and together come up with schemes and supports that make renting or owning more accessible to everyone.
Yes, this would be a new direction for Europe.
But at a time when people are wondering what the EU does to improve their daily lives, I strongly believe that the European Parliament must move with the needs of its citizens.
Housing is an acute problem facing citizens in every single Member State.
Ireland has benefited so much from our membership in terms of our services, our road network, the tourism industry, our ability to travel and the EU trade links that currently support 1.3million Irish jobs.
And now our people are calling out for the EU help on providing solutions to housing.
We need to be brave and answer this call.