00:00Last week, a coalition of European mayors met with European Council President Antonio Costa
00:05to discuss the housing crisis gripping many parts of Europe.
00:10The issue is back on the agenda this week, with the Commission and Parliament co-hosting
00:14a high-level meeting on the housing crisis tomorrow.
00:17Our correspondent, Angela Scugins, caught up with the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri,
00:23and started by asking him why Brussels should dedicate political capital to tackling the crisis.
00:30This is an issue of social justice, an issue of inclusion.
00:34It's also an issue of competitiveness growth, because labour mobility is key.
00:40And if workers have difficulty to move to cities, to big cities, that also affects our economic growth.
00:48So it's a priority, it's an emergency.
00:51And this is the reason why we created this alliance of mayors for affordable housing.
00:58We elaborated proposals, very concrete proposals, not just slogans.
01:02And we are here to present them to the European Commission.
01:06You say that it's an emergency.
01:07Do you think the European Commission is taking you seriously?
01:10They did, because this commission has introduced a very important new element, which is a commission
01:17dedicated to housing, because they are listening to us.
01:21But of course, now is the time to move from listening to deliver results.
01:27Could you argue that the short-term rentals are causing the most issue?
01:31What are the other points that are causing contention here?
01:35The short rentals are a component of distinctions, not the only one.
01:39That's very important, because the main problem is that public housing policies have been put
01:48out of the policy tool of Europe and Italy for a lot of time.
01:54So let's go back to the re-founding of a European nation state after World War II
02:01and with a welfare state, a European social model.
02:04This is composed in four pillars.
02:07Health, public health, education, pensions and housing.
02:11Now, the fourth part of this, you know, social model policy tool is out.
02:21There is not anymore.
02:22So we don't have public housing policies significant of significant magnitude.
02:27And so that's the reason.
02:28So we need first to recreate a robust pillar of public housing, public policies.
02:34Then, of course, we have also to address the tension that short-term rent has created on housing
02:42markets, especially in very touristic cities.
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