Homing in on EU housing policies

Date: 17/04/1997

Catherine Parmentier calls on the EU member states to collaborate with the Union's institutions to tackle the problem of homelessness and establish international standards for housing.

The recent adoption of a resolution on the social aspects of housing by the European Parliament's committee on social affairs and employment can be considered a first.

The resolution, which has yet to be adopted by the full Parliament, would be one of the very first documents from a European institution to open new avenues for tackling homelessness and improving housing conditions for everyone in the Union's member states.

Although homelessness today is clearly the result of general social, economic and financial policies, current political answers tend to focus on 'specific programmes'.

This is true both of national initiatives and of European programmes and pilot projects co-funded, inter alia, by the EU's structural funds.

But it is crucial to place homelessness - and any solution relating to it - in a wider context, in particular that of the lack of job opportunities, the inadequacy of social protection safety nets, the fundamental lack of decent affordable housing for low income groups and insufficient public policies to protect low income consumers.

The most commonly quoted slogans these days, such as “one must help people to help themselves”, might result in the necessary participation of the groups concerned. But, when applied literally, they might also legitimise structural exclusion and our society's inability to stem its increase.

A policy report published earlier this month by the European Federation of National Organisations Working for the Homeless (FEANTSA) states that three main fundamental issues are at stake when tackling the rising tide of homelessness.

These are the need to build up systematic bridges between the emergency and mainstream housing sectors; a requirement to view housing in a wider social and environmental context; and the need to put housing at the heart of our European vision, as an issue of general European interest.

With regard to housing provision, there is presently a huge gap between the emergency or crisis services and the mainstream housing sector, where no assistance is provided.

All the research work done on homelessness refers to a 'continuum' of housing needs, with those who sleep on the streets at one end and well-housed people at the other. But at present, this continuum of needs is not met by any continuum of solutions.

In a way, the term 'homelessness' has itself contributed to widening this gap.

The term was initially used to indicate a relatively small group of marginalised individuals. Nowadays, it is still being used, but to describe an increasingly diverse population, often with “no particular social problems” other than that of living in a society where jobs are rapidly disappearing whilst the cost of living increases, with no regard for those excluded from the labour market.

The Nordic countries and the UK lead the way in this field: for several years now they have been setting up an increasing number of small units of flexible support services. These are linked to a wide range of partners from the mainstream sector in relevant complementary areas: health, education, training, employment, housing, social protection, legal advice, et cetera.

But housing must also be viewed in a wider context. Without housing, much more than bricks and mortar is at stake. It also implies a way of life, an urban and social environment, encompassing the expression or lack of expression of urban solidarity, the possibility of creating new jobs - in short, the core around which every citizen's life is organised and the very heart of urban centres.

This approach enables us to review the legitimacy of the current interpretation of the principle of subsidiarity as defined in the EU treaties - according to which the Union currently has no remit in the area of housing - and opens the way to a more flexible interpretation of that principle.

The importance of this in a field as complex, multidimensional and fundamental to people's lives as housing cannot be underestimated.

Political choices with regard to housing are not merely technical choices, but affect society as a whole.

They orient its ethical foundations and have to be negotiated at the right decision-making level - one which may legitimately debate the general interest of society, social cohesion, and social protection: that is, at the European level.

The EU institutions are the best-placed catalysts to act as coordinator and rally both the public domain as well as private funding bodies and the voluntary sector to the cause.

Working in close collaboration with, and with the agreement of, all national governments, the Union institutions should put housing back at the heart of our European vision and oversee the promotion and coordination of initiatives and voluntary policies to this effect.

The right to adequate housing for everyone, recognised by all member states in international standard-setting documents, is still a distant dream in our countries.

Minimum benefits, when they exist, are rarely sufficient. In many countries, they do not even cover the minimum costs of renting small, decent accommodation. Access to housing is a prerequisite for gaining access to all other fundamental social rights - social benefits, health care, political rights, et cetera.

It is therefore a key element in the fight against exclusion. It also represents a major element in the EU's competitiveness as a whole, in that it is a job-creating sector contributing either directly or indirectly to increasing the productivity and creative potential of all Union citizens.

However, an approach which places the debate on the right to adequate housing for all in the wider context - which recognises housing as a domain of general European interest to be protected, valued and developed with all the resources of the EU and at every political level - goes far beyond individual housing rights and would hence allow for a less confrontational approach in some cases.

Housing should be at the heart of European social cohesion mechanisms and hence at the centre of our common European future.

The fields which have been recognised in international texts as forming part of our fundamental social rights cannot be surrendered to the law of the market, as these will never replace the ethics or long-term planning responsibilities of the policies proposed by public authorities with an insight into the present and future needs of all their citizens.

Historical circumstances have traditionally determined which sectors should be subject to special protection, as well as how this must be achieved.

Recent concerns relating to environmental protection, urban policies, local development, a structural lack of paid jobs and a rapid increase in poverty (even among those who are gainfully employed), together with changes in the respective roles of the state and the other economic, financial and social players, have reached a point where we urgently need to define new priorities with respect to European society.

Housing is an imperative part of these new priorities. It is an issue of fundamental general European interest and it is time it was placed on the political agenda at regional, national and EU level.

The idea of “general European interest” should help strike a balance between social and economic concerns, and reconcile the advocates of social cohesion with those of a strong, competitive Europe.

The two go together. There will be no long-term competitiveness if this is not vested in strong social cohesion. Likewise, social cohesion needs a solid economic and financial basis.

The EU has to show the way. If the member states of the Union, one of the most prosperous economic groups in the world and in principle one of the most democratic, cannot provide everyone with decent, affordable and secure housing, then the European dynamic is a resounding failure - not only of our democratic processes, but also of our whole economic system whose principal aim was initially to create prosperity and happiness for all.

For this reason, we consider that, within the framework of the Intergovernmental Conference, the defence and redefinition of fields of general European interest is fundamental.

They are the interface which should help reconcile social and economic concerns. The state and public authorities at the highest level are the only bodies which possess the ethics and planning skills necessary to meet the needs of the citizens, in cooperation with the other social and economic partners.

They are strategical catalysts - if they have the political will to be so.

Catherine Parmentier is secretary-general of European Federation of National Organisations Working for the Homeless (FEANTSA).