Ó Ríordáin Proposes Radical Housing Vision for EU
Ó Ríordáin Proposes Radical Housing Vision for EU - The Labour Party
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin today presented a radical vision for the role of the European Union in housing. The proposals include:
- €300 billion EU investment
- Recognition of housing as a human right
- Reform of state aid rules to unblock investment in social housing
- Stronger tenants’ rights
- Protections against eviction, particularly for children
The proposals were made through 229 amendments to the draft report of the Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union. As lead negotiator for the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, Dublin MEP Ó Ríordáin was tasked with making a response to a draft report by Fine Gael’s group, the EPP. A report described by Ó Ríordáin as “worse than I could have imagined.”
“The housing crisis is the biggest challenge facing Dubliners. Today I present a radical vision for housing to help fix that crisis. The truth is that there is a crisis in housing across the union and EU policies have a huge influence at national level. It’s only logical that EU policy should aid national governments and not limit solutions. The draft report presented by the EPP made no effort to fix anything. It was more interested in retaining the status quo, than providing solutions.”
Ó Ríordáin went on to outline his main objectives for the report:
“We need to tackle increasing financialisaton and speculation on housing to make renting and buying houses more affordable for ordinary people. We need to loosen restrictions on direct state investment, particularly in social housing and most of all we need to recognise housing as a human right, just like food or water.”
He ended calling for support from fellow Irish MEPs in proposing a stronger role for the EU in housing and acknowledging the support of contributors.
“I really hope I can get the support of all Irish MEPs to deliver a radical change in how the EU treats housing. If the EU wants to stay relevant and useful it must help meet the needs of the people, and housing is a fundamental need. It’s no longer good enough to just pretend it’s the sole responsibility of national governments, or worse the market! Finally I want to acknowledge the work of all those in housing bodies, agencies, experts, and my colleagues in S&D who contributed to put this document together.”