Brussels recognized this Monday that access to lower-cost housing is “a very important issue” for the Commission, ensuring that “it is prepared” to provide the necessary support to the States.
“The European Commission is ready to support Member States in their efforts to offer affordable housing,” said spokesperson Veerle Nuyts, ensuring that this support will be put into practice “in the form of various initiatives and financing instruments.”
To exemplify “the importance of affordable housing for the Commission”, the spokesman indicated “some recent initiatives and also some financing instruments”, in particular “the Affordable Housing Initiative, which is part of the Renovation Wave, (… .) to help renovate social and affordable housing with an integrated and intelligent approach”.
Regarding financing, Veerle Nuyts affirms that different European measures are already planned to facilitate access to housing, also in Portugal.
“They exist [medidas previstas para] affordable student accommodation, for example, in the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan, with an estimated total cost of €1.15 billion. There is a reform in Ireland, (…) that will increase the supply of social and affordable housing,” said the spokeswoman, giving “another example, in Spain, [onde] “There is a program for the construction of social rental housing in energy-efficient buildings, with an estimated cost of one billion euros.”
The Portuguese government sent a letter to the European Commission on Friday specifying the priorities for the year 2024, defending a “European Initiative for affordable housing”. The reason has to do with “the lack of real estate supply.”
The Government affirms that this “is a problem in many cities”, where “the cost of housing is increasing and already occupies a very important space in the monthly income of European families”.
“In this context, the European Commission must be attentive to the problem of the scarcity and high cost of housing, in line with the objectives of protecting the urban environment and social cohesion, areas in which, respecting the principle of subsidiarity, corresponds to the The EU must intervene”, appeals the executive of António Costa, since it is a “transversal problem for the entire Union”.
For this reason, Brussels should create “instruments capable of guaranteeing everyone’s access to decent housing at affordable costs.” The Government defends the “need” for intervention at the state level.
The Competition spokesman did not want to comment directly on the “letter” in which the Portuguese Government warns the European Commission and asks it to be attentive to the problem of shortages and the high cost of housing. But in a reply “in general terms”, Daniel Ferrie states that “it is for the Member States to assess whether a specific measure involves state aid”.
“If a measure constitutes state aid in the Community law assessment, it must be notified by the Member State concerned to the Commission, for its consideration, before granting any aid to the beneficiaries, unless it is covered by block exemptions”, he stated, refusing to “speculate” on the subject.
Source: TSF
