Background :
Housing and the European Union’s social policy
The European Union has no powers or responsibilities in respect of housing. Questions of social housing, homelessness and the social integration of groups living in disadvantaged areas have nevertheless found their way onto the European social policy agenda.
Housing is mentioned in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, as a right which can be invoked once the Lisbon Treaty is ratified. Thus, Article II-94 says that ‘In order to combat social exclusion and poverty, the Union recognises and respects the right to social and housing assistance so as to ensure a decent existence for all those who lack sufficient resources, in accordance with Community law and national laws and practices’. This Article offers a small measure of entitlement to housing. Thus, the authorities have an obligation not to abolish any measures already in place in this area. However, there is no obligation to introduce new ones.
European action to fund and encourage good practice
The new Member States can apply for money from the Structural Funds to help them improve the energy efficiency of the built environment and deliver ‘modern social housing’.
The European Union also strongly promotes the creation of city networks. The added value to be gained from an exchange of good practice and from reciprocal learning by different European cities should not, moreover, be underestimated. Housing is an issue of central importance, because it has to be considered globally. Housing is a factor in the broader but primordial issues of urban sprawl, sustainable urban development, global warming and social inclusion.
So only a holistic, integrated approach can provide the answer to the EU-wide challenges of housing.
Actions of the Intergroup
"The European Parliament, on the initiative of the Intergroup, drawing on a European Housing Charter and an own-initiative report by Alfonso Andria on ’housing and regional policy’, has played a major role here as co-legislator (help with modernising social housing in the new Member States)." L’Union Sociale pour l’Habitat highlights the added value brought by the Intergroup regarding the housing policy.
Indeed, one year after its creation, the Intergroup proposed a European Charter on housing describing housing as ‘a key factor of social inclusion and of the struggle against exclusions and discriminations, a vector for creating employment as well as a factor of competitiveness and attractiveness of the territories’.
The Andria report was adopted on 10 May 2007. This report calls for the setting of European minimum quality standards, to provide a definition of ‘decent housing’, strengthen the right to housing benefits as a way of facilitating worker mobility, and to give towns and cities a more important role in planning and managing the use of Community funds made available for housing projects. The report also opens the debate on giving all Member States access to European funding for the costs of renovating social housing.
Mr Hutchinson’s 6 December call for decent and affordable housing for all should also be mentioned as an action of the Intergoup. In addition, written declaration No 0111 signed by Jean Marie Beaupuy and others which seeks to end street homelessness and was adopted by the European Parliament on 22 April 2008 will provide the necessary stimulus at European Union level for action to address the problem of homeless people sleeping rough.
Lastly, numerous conferences have been organised jointly between the Intergoup and EU partners to hold a genuine debate on all aspects of the homelessness problem.
Good practice :
OPAC 38 : a high environmental quality building (HQE) in Bourgoin-Jallieu
The building was designed in 2000 and delivered in 2003. It is a demonstration project cofinanced by the European Commission under the 5th RTD framework programme. It was coordinated by FEDERABITAZIONE EUROPE and involved 16 European partners. The Bourgoin-Jallieu ‘Grand Tissage’ development consists of 61 new, high environmental quality dwellings plus leisure premises for use by the rugby club. The project was built with three main targets in mind : energy efficiency of the building, energy efficiency of the system, and manageability for the residents. Residents are required to behave in a manner consistent with the building’s objectives. So there has to be a learning and follow-up period. A ‘User’s Guide’ has been prepared, giving tenants information about the facilities available in their homes so that they can make optimum use of them, but also providing the administrators (Opac38 Agence&Siège, the maintenance company) with the building’s technical specification so that it can be managed in such a way as to meet the set objectives of high environmental quality and so provide the level of comfort which the residents expect. The Guide and the management committee enable everyone involved to learn from their mistakes in a bid to make the building truly efficient in environmental terms.
