Source: European Parliament
The number of people experiencing homelessness varies considerably across Member States, and there is no EU-level agreed definition of homelessness.
All Member States have pledged to work together under the umbrella of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness[1], which represents the policy framework at EU level to fight homelessness and housing exclusion, with the overall objective to promote policies based on a person-centred, housing-led and integrated approach.
As part of the Commission’s contribution to the work of the Platform, the EU-funded Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Monitoring Framework to Measure Homelessness[2] addresses homelessness measurement challenges in the Member States.
It highlights different socio-demographic groups that are often underreported or ‘missed’ in standard data collection exercises, and the methodological challenges behind this evidence gap.
The monitoring framework is one of the key deliverables under the Platform, and it focuses on improving the evidence on homelessness. It will be further developed into a project aiming to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of current national homelessness strategies.
The possibility of developing a common definition of homelessness is also being explored in a pilot project coordinated by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven on a European homelessness count that took place in 15 cities in 2024; a second count is foreseen in the autumn of 2025 in 35 cities.