Europe calls for action on homelessness

Members of the European Parliament have overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for a European wide homelessness strategy. The resolution describes homelessness as “a violation of human dignity and of human rights” and recognises housing as a “basic human need and a precondition for a decent life and social inclusion”.

The resolution identifies priority themes that any EU wide strategy should focus on:

• housing led/Housing First approaches to homelessness
• cross border homelessness
• quality of homelessness services
• prevention of homelessness
• youth homelessness.

This isn’t the first time that the European Parliament has called for united action on homelessness. In September 2011 a similar resolution was adopted urging the EU to step up its co-ordination and support of Member States’ policies on homelessness.

Commission urges Member States to commit to prevention of homelessness

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, has responded by reaffirming its position that homelessness is a matter for individual member states.

In a statement, the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor, said “all Member States should make serious efforts to rapidly re-house homeless people and to prevent the loss of permanent housing”. 

The Commission published a Social Investment Package in February 2013 which contains policy guidance on how Member States can confront homelessness in a sustainable way.