The mayors of 10 major European cities – between them representing more than 13 million people – have written to Ursula von der Leyen calling on the EU to “rise to the occasion” to tackle one of the “most pressing challenges” facing the bloc: the housing crisis.
“Time is of the essence: citizens need solutions and they need them now,” the letter signed by the mayors of Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam and Paris, among others, reads.
They note that a growing number of social groups, from young people to single-parent households, are struggling to access adequate housing across Europe, while the number of homeless people has climbed to a record high.
“This shortage has become particularly critical also for key workers and middle-class households,” the letter noted. “And it risks eroding the social foundation of the European project and undermining cities’ ability to attract and retain talent, threatening their competitiveness.”
Across the 27-member bloc, house prices soared by 47% between 2010 and 2022, according to Eurostat data, with rents rising 18% over the same period. In some countries, more than a fifth of households spend 40% or more of their net income on housing.
Cities have been on the frontlines of this crisis, with protests over housing erupting from Madrid to Milan.
The mayors said they had tried to do what they could within the limits of their resources. “However, many cities are still confronted with difficult decisions, such as whether to prioritise investing in new housing construction, the fight against homelessness or improving the energy efficiency of the existing housing stock,” said the letter, which was also signed by the mayors of Milan, Lisbon, Leipzig, Lyon, Bologna and Budapest.
The letter comes after von der Leyen’s decision, as the European Commission president, to appoint the EU’s first commissioner for housing.
In their letter, the mayors welcomed the recent appointment of Dan Jørgensen and urged him to allow them a seat at the decision-making table as well as carve out a fast track that would enable cities to directly access EU funds for social and affordable housing.
“We believe that this new political term should build a new momentum to address one of the most pressing challenges we are facing as a society,” they added.
