00:00The European Commission and Parliament are trying to tackle the housing crisis across
00:05the EU.
00:06The situation is critical.
00:08Rising property prices combined with a shortage of available housing has made access to affordable
00:14housing for many incredibly difficult.
00:17Between 2010 and 2023, rents across the bloc rose by an average of 22% and property prices
00:25by almost 50%.
00:27The EU is particularly interested in the impact of short-term rentals, which account
00:32for almost a quarter of tourist rentals.
00:35We are certainly looking at the role of short-term rentals.
00:39On one hand, it's a great possibility for people to go see each other's countries, for
00:44people to have an income to rent out a room or a home for a limited time.
00:49On the other hand, it does lead to huge problems in some cities, where people are forced out
00:55more or less of their homes so that they become a business machine, so to speak, instead
01:00of being a normal home.
01:02Measures on the table include the use of European funding for the construction of social housing,
01:07as well as the creation of a pan-European recruitment platform to tackle the shortage
01:12of construction workers.
01:14The Parliament recently set up a special committee on the EU housing crisis, which is expected
01:20to make recommendations to the Commission within a year.
01:23The current chairwoman insists that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to guarantee
01:28access to affordable housing in the EU.
01:31There can be areas where the problem is more on the demand side, other areas where it's
01:36more on the supply side, the type of supply varies.
01:40There are places where new construction is unthinkable and you really need to work on
01:45existing infrastructure, retrofitting, renovation.
01:50There are areas where you could actually alleviate the problem by constructing.
01:56So I wouldn't have one-size-fits-all recipes.
02:01The average age at which the majority of Europeans move out of their parents' home increased
02:06from 26 to 28, but housing is not directly controlled by the EU, meaning there is limited
02:12room to manoeuvre.
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