New move to tackle homelessness in EU

Date: 23/01/1997

By Simon Coss

CONVENTIONAL methods of coping with the rising tide of homelessness across the EU are failing and member states need to examine new ways of tackling the continent-wide crisis, according to groups working in the field.

In a bid to generate some original thinking on the issue, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA), is organising a two-day conference in London in early February.

The event, entitled 'Business and the voluntary sector', will bring together non-governmental organisations, trade unionists and members of the business community to look at how the various sectors can cooperate to tackle homelessness at a local level.

FEANTSA secretary-general Catherine Parmentier stresses that private enterprise can only ever play a supplementary role in tackling the problem and that business involvement should not be seen as an excuse to cut back on public sector commitments.

“The public sector has to identify problems and ensure the relevant measures are implemented. One of the things it must do within that brief is to find ways of funding projects and that is where public-private initiatives can sometimes be effective,” she said.

According to homelessness groups, the increase in numbers of Europe's homeless has one basic cause: an EU-wide lack of low-cost housing. “Since the early 1980s, less and less public sector housing has been built throughout Europe. The approach has been to leave housing policy to market forces,” said one expert.

While much new housing has been constructed over the last 15 years, it has generally been built by private property developers to be sold or rented to the highest bidder.

Obtaining accurate figures on the number of homeless people in the EU is an almost impossible task. They rarely appear on official census statistics and seldom have up-to-date social security records or carry valid identification papers.

FEANTSA, which tries to make a 'best guess' at the numbers by using data from emergency housing shelters, puts the figure at approximately 3 million people.

In addition to those with no home at all, the organisation points to official data from member states which shows that a further 15 million Europeans live in what they describe as “severely substandard and overcrowded dwellings”.

Europe's homeless find themselves at a crossroads between several different policies. Many are not entitled to unemployment pay as they do not figure in any official statistics. A large number of 16 to 25-year-olds are too young to have full access to social security benefits, and many people living rough are mentally ill.

Parmentier would ultimately like to see a list of basic social and civil rights including an explicit guarantee of the right to housing added to the EU treaties.