05/09/2025 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“The right to adequate housing is a universal human right and a cornerstone of social justice, human development and democratic stability,” underlined the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. Yet this right “remains a broken promise” for more than 1.3 million people who were homeless in Europe in 2023, including 400,000 children, and nearly 19.2 million who experienced “severe housing deprivation”.
Adopting the draft resolution, based on the report by Aurora Floridia (Italy, SOC), the committee deplored the “financialisation of housing” and the mass destruction of housing in war zones. It stressed that housing must be treated as “a human right, not as a commodity”,with special attention to the needs of the vulnerable population. The committee asked member States to increase public investment in affordable and social housing, adopt long-term rights-based strategies to prevent homelessness, and provide legal safeguards against forced evictions.
The committee further called on states to prioritise large-scale renovation of aging housing stock, promote energy-efficient and climate-resilient housing, and invest in sustainable public infrastructure. It urged them to ensure access to housing for vulnerable groups, including low-income families, Roma, refugees, persons with disabilities, young people, the elderly and women leaving violent relationships.
Finally, the committee encouraged member States to ratify the relevant provisions of the European Social Charter and strengthen the enforcement of socio-economic rights, as well as to work towards the recognition of “domicide” as a crime at the international level in the context of mass destruction of homes in war zones.