Source: European Parliament
The Commission shares the Honourable Member’s concerns about the housing situation in Greece and in the whole EU. The Commission has thus appointed a Commissioner for Energy and Housing and established a Task Force for Housing to coordinate the different work strands
Although the responsibility for housing rests mainly with Member States, regions and local authorities, the Commission will assess how it can continue to contribute to mitigating the housing crisis at the European level, including for youth.
The Commission will consult stakeholders in 2025 to better understand all the issues on housing and put forward a European Affordable Housing Plan.
Various EU funds are already available for Member States and local authorities to support social and affordable housing[1]. In addition, the Greek Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) foresees two financial instruments[2] that aim addressing pertinent challenges in Greece’s housing market.
They constitute parts of a more comprehensive housing strategy that is also included in the Plan and will be implemented in Greece in the coming period.
Complementary actions under RRP, the cohesion policy also co-finance energy efficiency in housing in Greece.[3] In addition, the Plan contains measures that aim to renovate more than 100 000 residences to significantly save primary energy[4].
Furthermore, in respect of funding and financing, the Commission will continue working closely with international financial institutions, national promotional banks and other relevant stakeholders[5] to make sure that housing is more affordable, in particular for young people and families.
Procedures for buying a house are governed by national civil law. Hence, simplification thereof falls within the remit of Member States.
- [1] To assist Member States, the Commission has published a toolkit that provides an overview of available EU funding opportunities in housing: Social Housing and beyond. https://european-social-fund-plus.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-launches-toolkit-support-social-housing-member-states The Recovery and Resilience Facility; the European Regional Development Fund; the European Social Fund Plus; the InvestEU; the Horizon Europe; the Technical Support Instrument; the Single Market Programme; the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund; the Social Climate Fund. Details on each EU support in the toolkit. In addition, the Cohesion Fund and the Just Transition Fund also support the investments in the energy efficiency of housing stock. Details are available in story ‘how cohesion policy supports housing
’ at the Cohesion open data platform. - [2] Loans finance for: (i) the acquisition of primary residence for targeted population groups — program “My Home II” (EUR 1 billion); (ii) energy efficiency renovations of existing properties — program “Upgrade My Home” (EUR 300 million).
- [3] Under the 2021-27 programming period, cohesion policy co-finances with some EUR 751 million interventions for energy efficiency in housing.
- [4] To date, and according to the most recent updated by the Greek authorities, more than 44,000 renovations have been completed.
- [5] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_671