FSG and FEANTSA call on the EU to prioritize groups in situations of severe vulnerability in the future European Affordable Housing Plan
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The Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) and the European Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) have addressed the European parliamentary groups and high-rank representatives of the Commission to ensure that the European Affordable Housing Plan, promoted by the European Commission and currently in development, takes into account the reality of segregated settlements and other situations of serious violations of the right to decent and adequate housing.

Aware that the increase in rents and housing prices in recent years has had a massive impact on the lives of millions of people in the EU—causing a large-scale housing crisis—FSG and FEANTSA stress that while access to housing is a widespread issue affecting a large portion of the European population, it is felt most acutely by the most vulnerable groups.

In the privileged space that is the European Union, thousands of people still live in segregated settlements, many of them children, mainly from Roma or migrant families. Not only do they lack adequate material conditions to live (precarious housing without basic services such as running water or electricity, in areas without public services and often unsanitary, exposed to pollution or toxic environments), but they are also segregated from the rest of the population, which restricts their access to other rights such as education or employment, preventing them from leading a dignified life in society. This extreme form of residential exclusion not only violates fundamental rights but also perpetuates cycles of poverty and structural discrimination.

The European Parliament has already spoken out on this issue. In its Resolution of 5 October 2022, it urged the Commission to launch an EU Action Plan to eradicate Roma settlements by 2030. The Council of the European Union also acknowledged in its 2023 Conclusions that these settlements represent a serious human rights violation, calling on Member States to take concrete actions and use EU financial instruments to address it.

For all these reasons, European institutions have a political and moral obligation to address this reality, using the development of the future European Affordable Housing Plan as a political framework to do so in a comprehensive manner and in line with the principles and values upheld by the EU. As the first EU initiative aimed at tackling the housing crisis, the European Affordable Housing Plan must also contribute to addressing situations of extreme social exclusion.

In a letter sent to representatives of the various European parliamentary groups and high-rank representatives, FSG and FEANTSA urged them to work toward ensuring the right to housing for people in the most vulnerable situations in Europe and to improve their access to adequate housing.

To this end, both organizations believe the future European Affordable Housing Plan should incorporate the following measures:

• The inclusion of a "preferential focus on situations of severe vulnerability" in the measures defined in the Plan, with specific mention of the most serious situations and groups at greatest risk of housing exclusion, particularly those living in segregated settlements. Specific measures are needed to ensure housing is affordable for low-income households and socially excluded individuals.
• The swift launch of the "EU Action Plan to Eradicate Roma Settlements by 2030" as requested by the European Parliament in its 2022 resolution, as an integral part of the European Affordable Housing Plan.
• The adoption of the necessary measures to ensure that Member States make the most of the EU financial instruments available to them for the implementation of the Plan’s objectives, ensuring complementarity and coherence with other existing EU funds. The upcoming revision of the ERDF Regulation presents a unique opportunity to incorporate a specific focus on slum eradication as one of the priorities of the new housing objective.
• Guaranteeing multilevel cooperation among all public administrations and relevant stakeholders, as well as the participation of civil society organizations—especially those representing vulnerable groups—in the definition of objectives, targets, measures, and impact indicators. As a first step, the Commission should ensure the representation of housing experts for vulnerable groups in the newly established Housing Advisory Board.

 

Both organizations trust that, in the drafting process of the Plan, the reality of segregated settlements and other serious violations of the right to decent and adequate housing will be taken into account, and that their needs will be prioritized in the initiatives and measures defined.