European Affordable Housing Plan – SOLIDAR’s reaction from a social rights perspective 

On 16th December 2025, the European Commission published its European Affordable Housing Plan, one of the most awaited initiatives of the current mandate, the first-ever comprehensive response to the housing crisis by the European Union. The Plan is a welcome step, and SOLIDAR celebrates its publication. 

Looking more closely at it, there are elements that we consider positive for the advancement of social rights in Europe, and others that are a missed opportunity to strongly defend them.  

The structure of the Plan and related initiatives: 

The Plan is organised  around four pillars: (1) Boosting housing supply; (2) Mobilising investment; (3) Enabling immediate support while driving reforms; (4) Protecting the most affected. Based on these pillars, 10 key actions are announced within the Plan. These include, among others, a legislative initiative on short-term rentals as part of an Affordable Housing Act, a simplification package, and a Council recommendation on fighting housing exclusion. The Plan is also presented in combination with other initiatives, namely a revision of State aid rules on Services of General Economic Interest to better support affordable housing, a European Strategy for Housing Construction, and a Communication and proposal for a Council recommendation on the New European Bauhaus. They merit a separate analysis and assessment and will not be deepened here.  

The plan recognises access to housing as a fundamental right, which is a positive sign and in line with SOLIDAR’s asks. This is the change of perspective and narrative that is key to ensure the right to housing is duly protected and upheld against a predatory approach that sees it as a commodity. However, for this recognition to be substantial, the fight against financialisation in the housing market must be at the center of any EU action in the field. On this aspect, the Plan is too timid and risks being ineffective.  

Highlights from the key actions: 

Zooming into the 10 key actions, some key elements emerge that have a potential impact on social rights and a just transition in Europe:  

  • On the one hand, the Plan identifies the need to improve the attractiveness of the construction sector for workers, including through reskilling and upskilling opportunities. On the other, the document calls for a simplification of administrative procedures, including by accelerating environmental assessments. This represents a high-risk factor for environmental sustainability, as well as for social standards, which can both negatively impact the quality of jobs in the construction sector and undermine social rights, as warned also by ETUC.  
  • The Affordable Housing Act will be introduced also to contrast the negative impact of short-term rentals on housing affordability. This is a welcome announcement contained in the Pact, but no reference to bolder and necessary actions like the introduction of rent caps is mentioned. This last element is regrettably not in line with SOLIDAR asks.  
  • Contrasting the speculation in the housing market is specifically addressed by Action 7. However, the actual response is vaguely described as greater transparency in the residential property market and tracking housing speculation. Gathering data and information on housing ownership is surely important, but it is only a precondition for bolder measures that curb wealth accumulation through housing.  
  • The mention of community-led solutions and the support to Member States in developing National Building Renovation Plans seem to be positive declarations on intent. At the same time, it is crucial that in processes like renovation and regeneration of neighborhood are carried out introducing all guarantees to contrast vicious social consequences like gentrification and renovictions.  
  • On a positive note, the reference to investments in non-profit and limited-profit housing is welcome and responds to the call of SOLIDAR and its members to support the social and solidarity economy actors and CSOs in developing and delivering sustainable and affordable housing solutions. This should be done in concrete through public procurement rules that support such actors. 
  • The Plan focuses also on the resources that will be mobilised to support the creation of affordable and quality housing. As announced before the Plan was published, great relevance is given to the Pan-European Investment Platform for affordable and sustainable housing. While the mobilisation of private resources is necessary, too little guarantees that such investment will respond to social and environmental conditionalities are included in the design of the Plan.Letting the affordable and social housing sector be led by private investors interests and market logic is dangerous and short sighted, especially considering that the financial speculation is among one of the main reasons this crisis is occurring.  
  • Concerning public investments, a reference to increased resources under the MFF is made. This is still under negotiation and would surely be a positive development. However, it is too soon to assess and will greatly depend on the resources allocated to other social priorities, to ensure that no competition is created across social instances.
  • The European Commission identifies the European Semester as a process through which affordable and social housing progress will be monitored and related recommendations produced. For this to have an impact on the access to this fundamental right for people in Europe, the social dimension of the European Semester should be strengthened.    
  • The recognition of the need for the most marginalised groups to have clear support in accessing affordable and social housing is appreciated. Nevertheless, discrimination as an obstacle to accessing housing (for people with a migration background and women, for instance) is underestimated in the Plan and should therefore be better reflected in the actions linked to it. 
  • The connection between the lack of affordable housing and homelessness is clearly made, with a call for housing-led solutions. As reminded by FEANTSA, homelessness is not only about housing, but it is crucial that housing policies include homelessness in their scope.  A Council recommendation on fighting housing exclusion is announced to be presented in parallel with the Anti-Poverty Strategy.

  Conclusions: 

To sum up, the Plan is a welcome instrument to face the housing crisis. For it to sort its effect and effectively address the root causes of this emergency, it should be more ambitious in tacking the financialisation of the housing market and provide clearer guidance to Member States on how to ensure this and other objectives, including the fight against discrimination of marginalised groups, the protection of social rights of construction workers, the control of rents.  

SOLIDAR network will keep monitoring its implementation and the related initiatives, especially the Council recommendation and the Anti-poverty strategy, as well as its connections with processes like the negotiations of the new MFF and the European Semester.