European Affordable Housing Plan recognises role of housing cooperatives

On 16 October, the European Commission unveiled its first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan. This initiative forms part of a broader momentum to place housing at the top of the EU agenda, alongside the establishment of the Commission’s first Housing Task Force and the European Parliament’s special committee on the housing crisis in the EU.

The Plan focuses on three main pillars: increasing housing supply, mobilising investment, and supporting the most affected populations. In particular, it proposes a new European Strategy for Housing Construction, facilitated permits and planning, revised EU State aid rules, a new investment platform, and a focus on student and social housing.

Cooperatives Europe welcomes the Plan as an important initial step and values the recognition of housing cooperatives as key actors in addressing housing market speculation. For decades, housing cooperatives have provided anti-speculative, democratic, and community-led housing solutions across Europe. Their response to the housing crisis also extends beyond housing alone, including energy-related initiatives that provide concrete and collective solutions for buildings’ decarbonisation and sustainable energy management.

Cooperatives Europe’s President, Giuseppe Guerini, said:

“Without sufficient, decent, and sustainable housing for all, there can be no competitive Europe. When citizens are empowered to co-own and co-manage their future, affordability and sustainability go hand in hand, to the benefit of the whole of society. In this context, cooperatives can play an important role in building affordable housing and in making reliable rental housing accessible to many citizens. The cooperative model is a tool for democratising access to housing.”

We now call on the EU to take a strong leadership role in encouraging Member States, regions, and cities to adopt and implement this Plan. EU and national authorities must place greater emphasis on long-term, quality-oriented housing solutions. This requires an enabling legal framework in which democratic, people-centred housing models, such as cooperative housing, are fully recognised for their nature and contribution, and are supported both financially and administratively.

Housing Europe, member of Cooperatives Europe and representatives of the cooperative housing sector, described the launch of the European Affordable Housing Plan as the beginning of a new phase for housing policy in Europe. They noted the plan’s potential to support public, cooperative, and social housing providers and to better coordinate action at European level.

The publication of this Plan is the first step on a long road; much remains to be done. Cooperatives in Europe and its members will follow its implementation with great interest and stand ready to collaborate on this matter with the EU institutions and Member States in the near future.

Read more about the EU Affordable Housing Plan here.
Read Housing Europe’s full reaction.