Build more homes: cut red tape, cut costs, empower local authorities

The EPP Group wants more houses to be built in Europe. Later today, the European Commission will present its Affordable Housing Plan, a toolbox designed to tackle the housing crisis across Europe. With the plan, the Commission recognizes what the EPP's Borja Giménez Larraz MEP highlighted already earlier this year, when he drafted Parliament's special report on the Housing Crisis in the European Union: boosting housing supply must be the main pillar in addressing Europe’s housing crisis. The EPP Group’s proposed Housing Simplification Package aligns with this approach, aiming to cut red tape, reduce costs, and accelerate construction. Europe can support these efforts by creating the right framework for investment and innovation.

“The European Union cannot build houses, this is the responsibility of the Member States, but it can make building possible,” says Nikolina Brnjac MEP, EPP Group spokeswoman in the Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the EU. “Housing affordability is now a competitiveness issue: if workers cannot live where jobs are, Europe loses growth. This plan rightly links housing supply with investment, skills, and simplification, while giving cities and regions the tools they need to deliver housing faster and at scale, including through a balanced approach to short-term rentals.”

“There is no single European housing market. There are twenty-seven, each with hundreds of regional and local realities. That is why subsidiarity matters: housing policy must remain in the hands of those closest to citizens. Europe should act as a catalyst, removing barriers and unlocking investment to support national and local efforts,” adds Borja Giménez Larraz MEP. “The Commission’s Affordable Housing Plan moves in the right direction, focusing on increasing supply, issuing targeted recommendations, protecting young people, and attracting both private and public investment. These priorities reflect what the EPP has long advocated: concrete measures that empower local authorities and deliver real solutions for European families.”