00:00Now, Europe's housing crisis has reached emergency levels with ordinary people in
00:05ordinary jobs struggling to afford somewhere to live. That's the warning from the European
00:11Commissioner for Housing, Dan Jørgensen. In response, the EU has unveiled new rules aimed
00:17at curbing short-term rentals such as Airbnb in areas under so-called housing stress. Our
00:24correspondent Marek Gwynn caught up with Commissioner Jørgensen and began by asking
00:27whether the new restrictions will offer relief to Europeans being squeezed by the housing market.
00:34So prices in many cities in Europe are way too high. So we see normal people with normal jobs not
00:41being able to find a place to live, being crowded out of the cities where they serve as police officers,
00:47nurses and teachers and so on. So this is totally unacceptable and we need to act. What we propose
00:52today is to say where short-term rentals are a problem because they are in some cities.
00:58They have crowded out normal people from their homes because there's more money to be made just
01:03having a short-term rental. And where that is the case, we are now giving the legal basis for member
01:09states to regulate this. So we are now giving the member states the ability to actually do something
01:15about this important problem. I'm interested in knowing about the degree of concern you have
01:20about this. Do you fear we're moving towards a Europe where it will become impossible for a young
01:26person under 35, for example, to actually become a homeowner or even worse, to even afford a rent?
01:34Unfortunately, in many cities and member states, we're already there. It is, I would say, actually an
01:40emergency. Because if you don't have roof over your head, if you don't have the opportunity to find a
01:45place to live, then for instance, young people are not able to start a family. They're not able to
01:49get the job that they want. They're not able to take the education that they want and need. And by
01:53the way, we as a society need that they take. So really, it's important that we take this extremely
01:59serious. It's also important that we from the European Union side, which traditionally maybe hasn't
02:05been the case, acknowledge that this is also a European problem. So we need to provide solutions from
02:10Brussels. You and I both know that short-term rentals are just part of the problem. As the
02:16commissioner responsible for tackling this crisis, what more do you hope to be able to do in this
02:22mandate to help Europeans with this pressing issue? Short-term rentals is a big part of the
02:29problem in many cities. But of course, this will not solve all problems. We also need to do more to
02:36build more houses, to renovate more houses, to find new purposes for buildings that are already
02:41existing so that they can become houses. We need to cut red tape so that it's easier to provide more
02:47housing. We need to mobilize more financing. We need to make it more feasible and easy to build
02:54social housing. All of these things, of course, need to be done. So this is an important step,
02:59but it's not the only step.
03:00If I may, a final question on energy, because energy bill is also a major concern, of course.
03:05We know that international conflicts are upending the energy commodities markets. How worried are
03:13you about the winter facing Europe, especially given the fact that energy storage is actually lagging
03:18behind? I'm quite worried that if we don't see improvements in the Strait of Hormuz, that we can
03:26face a very difficult winter. So my message to member states are very clear. The faster you can
03:31deploy more renewables, the faster you can electrify. So move away from gas broilers to
03:38district heating or electric heat pumps, for instance. The faster you can deploy more energy
03:43efficiency measures, the faster you can do all of these things, the more easy the winter will be
03:48to face. And by the way, these things will also lead to lower prices. So really, there's no reason to
03:54not do it.
