中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

Authors: Alfonso Andria

Date: 28 mars 2007

Published by Committee on Regional Development

Although the Treaty does not vest the European Union with any specific powers with regard to housing, a large number of Community policies (in particular those concerning the environment, energy, transport, social affairs and measures to benefit the common market) have a direct or indirect impact on housing conditions in the various EU Member States.

Nevertheless, the ERDF regulation for the period 2007-2013 has made housing eligible for funding in the new Member States in a number of cases set out in Article 7(2) and Recitals 5 and 6, thereby de facto giving some of the responsibility to the EU.

Housing should also be seen from the wider perspective of the attractiveness of cities in terms of strengthening their growth and job creation potential, which thus also helps to implement the Lisbon Agenda. The contribution of cities to growth and employment has also been highlighted in the Community Strategic Guidelines on cohesion.

The European Parliament has expressed its views on this matter in a number of resolutions, advocating practical measures to boost the development of the urban environment and a greater sense of responsibility on the part of the local decision-makers responsible for drawing up management and urban transport plans to improve quality of life in their cities.

Furthermore, the European Housing Charter, adopted by the ‘URBAN-Housing’ Intergroup of the European Parliament on 26 April 2006, defines housing as a staple part of life, a fundamental social right underpinning the European social model and a source of human dignity.

We must therefore identify those factors which have an impact on housing, in order to implement a ‘socially responsible’ policy and make housing accessible to all. We have to find a solution to the problems of spatial segregation and ‘ghettoisation’ and meet the social and economic challenges relating to the ageing population, whilst placing housing in the broader context of the sustainable development of towns and cities.

This report seeks to focus the housing debate on three key issues:

1. the social dimension

2. the environmental and energy dimension

3. the coordination dimension.

This document in different languages

• English: doc_611.pdf (190 KiB)