On 6 May, the European Commission published an ambitious social package composed of four key initiatives aimed at tackling poverty and social exclusion in the EU (see our previous article). Among them is a Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Fighting Housing Exclusion. 

This initiative is one of the key actions under the European Affordable Housing Plan. It aims to support Member States, regions and cities in reviewing, designing and implementing comprehensive, person-centred, housing-led and integrated policy frameworks to prevent and reduce housing exclusion and homelessness.

In preparing this initiative, the European Commission consulted civil society and EASPD contributed to the call for evidence, highlighting the key barriers people with disabilities face in accessing adequate, accessible and affordable housing, and proposing some concrete actions: 

• Recognising people with disabilities as a group at higher risk of housing exclusion
• Acknowledging the role of support services as key actors in addressing housing exclusion
• Ensuring the participation of persons with disabilities, their families and disability services

The proposed text brings some positive answers. It defines housing exclusion as the inability to access or maintain decent, stable and affordable housing that meets basic quality and legal standards. This includes homelessness and insecure or inadequate housing, but also the lack of accessibility. It also recognises people with disabilities as a group at higher risk of housing exclusion or homelessness.

The proposal also reflects several of EASPD’s key messages and recommendations:

• Identification bystrengthening data collection on hard-to-reach groups, and aligning identification criteria.
• Prevention of housing exclusion, including ensuring the availability of adapted housing for people with disabilities or long-term care needs, equal treatment of people at risk of discrimination in access to adequate housing and essential services, and providing timely, personalised support for people leaving institutions (e.g hospitals, care facilities).
• Support to people experiencing homelessness, includingproviding a person-centred, integrated and accessible support system and developing community-based multi-disciplinary teams involving health and care professionals and social workers.
• Access to adequate and secure housing, includingpromoting innovative cohabitation concepts with shared facilities and support services, measures to support housing adaptations for people with disabilities and/or older people with long-term care needs, enabling people to live in their homes for as long as possible.
• Governance, including targeted monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, participation of persons with lived experience, civil society and social economy organisations, and strengthening the capacity and quality of services supporting people experiencing housing exclusion.

Overall, the proposed initiative represents an important step in strengthening EU action to fight housing exclusion and homelessness, with a clear call for a strategic shift from emergency management to person-centred policies, housing-led models and focus on prevention.

At the same time, its impact will depend on how these recommendations are implemented at national, regional and local levels. Ensuring effective coordination, adequate resources and the meaningful involvement of people with disabilities and their support networks will be essential to translate this initiative into tangible improvements in access to housing.

Read also EASPD Briefing Paper The European Affordable Housing Plan.