Brussels admits that Portugal is “one of the countries most affected” by the housing crisis in the EU

The European Commissioner for Housing, Dan Jørgensen, is visiting Lisbon at the end of the week and admits that Portugal “is one of the countries most severely affected” by the European Union’s (EU) housing crisis, promising instruments to control short-term rentals.
“Part of the visit will focus on housing. There is no doubt that Portugal is one of the member states most severely affected by a housing crisis. I will meet with mayors, ministers and other relevant stakeholders to discuss the plan I have just presented and analyze how we can ensure that it is implemented in a way that naturally helps Portugal in the best possible way,” said Dan Jørgensen, in statements to the Lusa news agency and other European media in Brussels, ahead of the visit.
According to the European Commissioner responsible, “an important part of this issue is short-term rentals,” an area in which the European Commission will “work to give local authorities better instruments to deal with the challenges that short-term rentals pose in many places,” in a proposal that will be presented this year.
“We are preparing a kind of ‘white list’ of measures that can be adopted in areas with strong housing pressure,” added Dan Jørgensen.
The official explained that what is at stake are, for example, “legal ways of defining what is a housing pressure zone,” and “based on these criteria, it will be possible to apply the different measures that I will include in this list.”
In these statements to Lusa and other European outlets, Dan Jørgensen pointed out the “real need to do more to facilitate access to affordable housing in Europe.”
Last December, the European Commission proposed the first EU-level plan to promote affordable housing.
The European plan includes a strategy for housing construction (focusing on vacant homes and the renovation and conversion of buildings), the simplification of construction rules (such as permits) and the revision of state aid rules (making it easier for member states to invest in affordable and social housing).
The plan also covers strengthening European funds (from the EU’s long-term budget, cohesion funds, the InvestEU program and the European Investment Bank), combating real estate speculation (with greater transparency in the sector) and a new law on short-term rentals (with a legal framework for local authorities to act).
One of the measures concerns a pan-European investment platform (public and private) to channel 10 billion per year.
The European Commission also wants to give countries and local authorities instruments to limit short-term rentals, which put pressure on housing prices, in the law it will propose this year.
Over the next 10 years, the EU will have to build around 650,000 new homes per year, which implies public and private investment of 150 billion euros annually.
The European Union is facing a housing crisis, particularly in countries such as Portugal, where house prices and rents have risen significantly, making it difficult to access affordable housing, especially for young people and low-income families.
Brussels estimates that housing prices in Portugal are overvalued by 25%, the highest percentage in the European Union.