What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Change 3

Added:The socio-economic consequences of the housing crisis

Added:1. Expresses deep concern about the housing crisis affecting the EU and its Member States, which is eroding dignity, equality and social cohesion; underlines that millions of Europeans face precarious living conditions as a result of the housing crisis; stresses that affordability is at the core of the housing crisis, in particular for young people, low-income and middle-income families, and vulnerable groups, including elderly people and homeless people, who face heightened barriers to accessing adequate housing; is concerned about the challenges that young people face in leaving their family home and making personal choices that influence their professional and personal lives, such as starting a family or studying and finding a first job in line with their qualifications;

Added:2. Is concerned about the harmful socio-economic consequences of the housing crisis , which is hindering people’s access to employment and workers’ labour mobility for jobs located in metropolitan areas, creating shortages of workers, among other issues; emphasises that the housing crisis has become a barrier to Europe’s competitiveness, as it undermines productivity and makes regions less attractive for investment; is concerned about the effects of the housing crisis on people’s purchasing power, creating difficulties for companies to find a suitable workforce; is committed to encouraging greater political will among Member States, as well as local and regional authorities, in the development of tailor-made and innovative solutions and the integration of housing policies within broader social and economic strategies;

The EU and national authorities

Change 4

Removed:1. Expresses concern about the housing crisis affecting the EU, in particular its impact on young people and low- and middle-income families; is concerned about the challenges that young people face in leaving their family home and making personal choices that influence their family lives;

Added:3. Strongly welcomes the Commission’s commitment to deliver and implement an ambitious European Affordable Housing Plan; recalls that the Affordable Housing Plan must respect the principle of subsidiarity, taking into account the specific needs of each Member State; considers that the Affordable Housing Plan must be designed to tackle the housing crisis as a social emergency;

Removed:2. Welcomes the Commission’s task of developing an ambitious new strategy for housing construction and an affordable housing plan, provided that it respects the principle of subsidiarity and is based on data and evidence, taking into account the specific needs of each Member State, region and local authority; calls on the Commission to convene the first EU housing summit;

Added:4. Calls on the Commission to duly take into account Parliament’s position on the housing crisis; calls on the Commission to convene the first EU housing summit focused on concrete solutions; stresses that the European Affordable Housing Plan should prioritise actions to increase genuine affordability, and support Member States in delivering decent, sustainable and affordable homes for millions of Europeans; points out that housing is a Member State competence, but acknowledges that sectoral EU legislation may have an impact on the overall viability and costliness of building and on the renovation and repurposing of houses; insists that there are EU initiatives that can bring about real added value to addressing the housing crisis, not least by tapping into the full potential of the single market in the construction sector, enabling greater investment via the use of EU funds, raising the standards of the quality of dwellings, enhancing evidence through data collection and sharing, supporting efforts and investment in upskilling and reskilling, facilitating the mobility of construction workers, and boosting the simplification of permitting; calls for the European Affordable Housing Plan to be aligned with the European Pillar of Social Rights, and for it to help tackle social inequalities, eradicate poverty in the EU, and promote social, economic and territorial cohesion and upward convergence;

Local and regional authorities

Change 5

Changed:3.5. Calls for the EU and its Member States to respect and emphasise the keyrelevant rolecompetences of local and regional authorities and emphasise their key role in identifying housing needs and contributing to national strategies in designing targeted measures for the local population; calls for the EU and its Member States to incentivise municipalities and regions to promote the construction, renovation and repurposing of residential housing within their areas; notes furthermore that, despite urban and industrial areas being particularly affected, the housing crisis extends across all regions, especially to those with permanent geographical handicaps, such as rural and inland areas, islands, the outermost regions, border regions with high commuting populations, and coastal and remote areas, in particular those at risk of demographic decline; underlines the importance of creating and promoting integrated urban strategies;strategies callsthat forencompass iteducation, tohealthcare, beinfrastructure ensured(such as water and electricity), public transport and leisure, ensuring that demographic challenges are effectively integrated into policymaking at all levels; calls for local and regional authorities to have direct and targeted access to EU housing funds and areto be empowered to manage them, due to their proximity to the realities of local needs;needs, thus making possible for them to act swiftly to address housing challenges;

Change 6

Removed:4. Calls for promoting simplification and increased capacity building through a multilevel governance approach, including administrative and digital measures, to develop sustainable and affordable housing projects; calls on the Commission to issue best practices, in this regard, focused on depopulated and depopulating areas; calls for the promotion of connectivity projects in rural, cross-border, insular and outermost regions to ensure the right to stay and enable the local population to live in their place of origin; calls for the Commission to issue a specific housing plan for rural, insular and outermost regions as well as for cross-border cooperation, in this respect;

Added:6. Stresses that local and regional authorities must be involved in the European Affordable Housing Plan; calls for the enhancement of consultation mechanisms, coordination and inter-municipal cooperation, as well as the strengthening of partnerships and the leveraging of the local expertise of local and regional authorities, as they are best placed to ensure the successful drafting and implementation of the Plan; calls for the active participation of key stakeholders in shaping and implementing housing policy at local level; insists that EU-level initiatives respect the diversity of regional realities, acknowledging that different territorial contexts (such as metropolitan hot-spots, shrinking regions, islands and the outermost regions) require tailored approaches;

Removed:Increasing supply

Added:7. Calls for promoting simplification through a multilevel governance approach and in accordance with the partnership principle, including integrated administrative structures and digital measures such as fully digital permit-granting procedures and e-communication related to permitting, to support the development of decent, sustainable and affordable housing projects, taking into account the need to renovate the existing housing stock;

Added:8. Calls on the Commission to promote cooperation and to issue best practice reflecting the diversity of challenges that depopulated and depopulating areas and border, insular and outermost regions are facing, and to prevent housing policies from contributing to the depopulation of certain areas; calls for the EU and its Member States to support local and regional authorities to increase the supply of public, cooperative and non-profit housing; calls for the promotion of digital connectivity projects and transport connection to capitals, major cities and urban centres, as they could help in combating depopulation, ensuring the right to stay and enabling the local population to live in their place of origin, while increasing the number of dwellings available in the market and renovating the existing housing stock; calls for the Commission to issue a specific housing plan addressing both construction and renovation needs for rural, insular and outermost regions as well as for cross-border cooperation, in this respect, and supported by a study on living conditions in those regions in Europe; calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement initiatives, for example through the cohesion policy, to revitalise rural regions by improving infrastructure, supporting housing development programmes, and promoting policies that encourage rural regeneration and support small town development to address unique challenges such as limited infrastructure and economic opportunities;

Added:9. Supports integrated territorial and local development strategies aiming at making rural areas more resilient through collaborative and participatory approaches, as outlined in the long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas and the Rural Pact’s framework for cooperation, in order to address the unique challenges of rural, remote and mountainous areas in housing policies; calls on the Commission to propose a ‘Statute of the EU Islands’, coupled with an ‘Islands Pact’, similar to the Rural Pact, aimed at recognising insularity as a differential feature, and laying down specific policy measures to support islands in addressing the additional costs associated with insularity to ensure decent, sustainable and affordable housing on islands;

Added:10. Underlines that measures are needed to safeguard housing for residents and to preserve the diversity and vitality of urban communities and the long-term liveability of cities; further stresses the importance of addressing gentrification in urban planning and of regeneration policies, ensuring that revitalisation efforts do not lead to the displacement of residents, including long-term residents and older homeowners, or the loss of affordable housing; stresses the need to allocate adequate resources to local and regional authorities for capacity-building support, and to assist the Member States in their policies of territorial development, promoting construction, repurposing, renovation, investment and streamline permitting and administrative procedures in rural areas, small and medium-sized municipalities and areas considered less attractive; underlines that many municipalities face severe staffing shortages, which limit their capacity to plan, deliver and manage public and social housing, and to ensure proper oversight of private sector activity; underlines that insufficient administrative capacity contributes to mismanagement, lengthy permitting procedures and weak enforcement against unlawful practices;Increasing the supply of affordable private and public housing

Reducing regulatory burdens and promoting simplification

Change 7

Changed:5.11. Underlines that among the main causecauses of the housing crisis isare the insufficient supply of dwellings;dwellings, the limited investment in affordable and public housing, inadequate regulatory frameworks, insufficient government planning and direction, high land prices, competing spatial demands, rising construction costs, increasing energy and utility costs, infrastructure bottlenecks, lengthy permitting procedures, population growth and demographic changes, labour shortages, large-scale abusive financialisation practices, and a persistent mismatch between housing demand and supply; stresses the need to increase investment and housing supply, including cooperative, social and non-profit models, in order to help bring down prices; calls on the public authorities to provide urgent measures to boost affordable housing supply by reducing regulatory burdensburdens, alongrefraining thefrom entireadding valuefurther chain,administrative layers, eliminating unnecessary obstacles and red tapetape, and alleviating bottlenecks in local, national and EU legislation that undermine the competitiveness of the construction and renovation sectors;sectors, calls for a horizontal EU regulatory-burdencomprehensive check;assessment of relevant legislation impacting the provision of affordable, high-quality and energy-efficient housing, avoiding unnecessary duplications and additional burdens for European citizens; in this vein, calls for a joint regulatory audit by the Commission and the European Court of Auditors of EU legislation that may be hindering affordable housing supply; considers that such an audit should remedy the identified shortcomings; recalls that evidence shows that price controls and stringentstate interventions arecan ineffective,lead oftento worseningunexpected outcomes, and any such measures should be targeted to limit distortions in the situation;market; notes that such measures create uncertainty, discourage investment, and deter those who could help expand supply; calls for the Member States and regions to have flexibility in achieving housing-related objectives of Union legislation based on their specific context and needs;

Change 8

Removed:6. Urges efforts to improve the availability of building land, particularly in densely populated areas; urges competent public authorities to mobilise publicly owned land and ease zoning processes for the construction of both social and affordable housing; calls on the Member States to adopt integrated approaches that reconcile environmental and economic objectives;

Added:12. Urges the Commission to propose a Housing Simplification Package, with the aim of simplifying and streamlining the complex set of rules that currently slow down housing construction and renovation across Europe by reducing administrative burdens, aligning overlapping regulations and shortening permitting procedures; highlights that such an initiative will make it easier and faster for the provision of decent, sustainable and affordable housing supply, including public and social housing, or renovate homes and to reduce buildings costs; acknowledges that simplification and targeted flexibilisation, where relevant, would remove unnecessary barriers while preserving key safety, environmental, and social standards with the goal of accelerating permitting, new construction, and renovation, allowing housing supply to catch up with demand and making homes more affordable across Europe;

Removed:7. Calls on the competent public authorities to ease permitting processes to make them significantly faster and simpler, including through measures such as introducing the principle of positive administrative silence for the issuance of building permits for new construction and renovation works, except in cases involving environmental, heritage or historical protection; calls on the Commission to issue a study evaluating the causes of the excessive time required to obtain permits and undergo licencing procedures;

Added:13. Urges efforts to improve the availability of building land in a sustainable manner, particularly in densely populated areas; emphasises that responsibility for decisions on publicly owned land and planning processes must remain with national and municipal authorities; urges competent public authorities to mobilise publicly owned land, review land zoning regulations and reclassify infrastructure-ready land for immediate development, to fast-track the delivery of affordable housing and cooperative, social and non-profit models; highlights that any land-use strategy must balance housing needs with high-quality construction standards; emphasises that housing developments must always be integrated into broader development strategies in urban areas, including the development of public infrastructure, to ensure social cohesion and prevent socio-economic segregation and market-distorting practices; calls on the Member States and local and regional authorities to adopt integrated approaches that ensure consistency between construction projects and environmental and social objectives; calls on the Member States to integrate environmental risk assessments into urban planning, ensuring that certain areas vulnerable to climate-related disasters are prioritised for protective measures and resilient infrastructure;

Removed:8. Believes that the EU should maintain a level playing field and ensure the efficient use of public resources; calls for increased efforts to combat energy poverty; calls on the Commission and the Member States to fully integrate the Commission’s Renovation Wave strategy into housing policies, ensuring that building renovation is not only focused on energy efficiency, but also on increasing housing supply;

Added:14. Highlights that solutions already exist to build new housing without new consumption of natural areas, while, at the same time, improving building quality and increasing housing supply and diversity; underlines that these solutions range from gentle, horizontal and vertical density housing, co-designed with local residents, to urban renewal, including the development of lightweight housing;

Removed:9. Calls on the Member States to promote an efficient and incentive-based tax system for housing policies; considers that the OECD’s international standards regarding housing policies, such as tax relief for the consumer, flexibility in landlord-tenant relations and avoiding rent controls, have proven beneficial, encouraging housing investment and helping to curb house price pressures, thereby stimulating supply in high-demand areas;

Added:15. Underlines that habitable brownfields provide an additional reservoir of urban land for possible development; calls on the Member States and local and regional authorities to map brownfields on their territory that could be transformed into housing and to introduce ‘brownfield passports’ defining conditions under which brownfield areas would be automatically transformed in urban plans into areas for housing development; calls on the Commission and the Member States to actively promote the rehabilitation of abandoned or underused sites within existing urban fabrics, while ensuring that such regeneration projects contribute to affordability, sustainability and social inclusion;

Removed:Construction materials

Added:16. Calls on the competent public authorities to provide the responsible institutions with adequate resources to ensure effective and timely handling of applications in order to ensure permitting processes are made faster and simpler, including through measures such as introducing the principle of positive administrative silence for the issuance of building permits for new construction and renovation works, except in cases involving safety of persons, environmental standards and protection measures or requirements for the preservation of cultural, historical, and archaeological or architectural heritage, which must be safeguarded; recalls the importance of participative planning processes and the social function of housing; calls on the Commission to urge the Member States to set out a goal to achieve housing permits within a deadline of 60 days to deliver decent, sustainable and affordable housing; calls on the Member States to promote the delivery of housing through priority action allowing shorter procedures to be activated at national level and to introduce fast-track approval procedures for housing projects deemed critical for addressing urgent shortages;

Removed:10. Requests that the Commission issue a report on the EU legislation that affects the price and supply of construction materials, with a view to identifying, reviewing and removing factors that contribute to cost increases;

Added:17. Calls on the Commission to explore how to support the Member States in their efforts to manage urban planning and licencing procedures effectively, giving guidance, providing technical assistance and adequate resources for the strengthening of technical and administrative capacity of local authorities under the Digital Europe Programme and the European Regional Development Fund, or upgrading online guidance tools for the Member States; further advocates advancing the digitalisation of permitting processes through interoperable national platforms enabling electronic submission, tracking, and the approval of applications for building, repurposing and renovation; further calls for the establishment of one-stop-shops at national level, providing advisory support to reduce administrative delays in line with the Commission’s Smart Finance for Smart Buildings initiative and the Renovation Wave; calls on the Commission to issue a study evaluating the causes of the excessive time required to obtain permits and undergo licencing procedures, including a collection of best practice, with a view to improving efficiency; stresses that permitting processes should ensure transparency and facilitate data sharing among local authorities, developers, and citizens, while complying with EU data protection standards; stresses the need for timely, well-resourced and thorough judicial procedures and rulings related to permitting, construction, environmental requests and ownership, in order to avoid lengthy legal disputes, ensuring that processes are both swift and robust;

Added:18. Stresses the need for renovation and repurposing activities to address fragmented housing policies and lengthy permitting procedures, which can hinder the development of existing building stock; calls on the Member States to provide further incentives to renovate derelict housing and highlights the fact that the process of applying should remain straightforward; calls for renovated housing to be made available to those on housing waiting lists or first-time buyers, recognising their needs; calls on the Member States to adopt a new focus and adequately fund the renovation of properties for housing in areas traditionally used for purposes other than residential, so that the property ‘above the shop’ on subsequent floors is fully utilised to meet urgent local housing needs in these communities;

Added:19. Believes that the EU should maintain a level playing field and ensure the efficient use of EU resources, which should be directed towards ensuring decent, sustainable and affordable housing for all; calls on the Commission and the Member States to fully integrate the Commission’s Renovation Wave strategy into housing policies, including support schemes for private housing upgrades, ensuring that building renovation is not only focused on energy efficiency and decarbonisation, but also on social fairness and the expansion of affordable housing supply, improving quality of life, preventing disproportionate rent hikes during renovations and reducing long-term housing costs; stresses the importance of setting specific renovation earmarks within the forthcoming European Affordable Housing Plan and of contributing to improving the average energy performance levels of the residential housing sector and prioritising the worst performing buildings; calls on Member States facing high concentrations of low-efficiency, standardised multistorey buildings to develop mechanisms that enable the necessary renovation rates to meet EU targets; supports incentives for the renovation of dwellings in densely populated areas and advocates solutions that positively incentivise owners to put houses back on the market to make them available for long-term renting, particularly in pressured urban areas; underlines that when designing housing policies, competent authorities should be able to carry out a single and thorough environmental assessment, avoiding unnecessary duplications, and complete the necessary administrative and procedural steps for a given geographic area prior to the development of residential projects;

Added:20. Calls on public authorities to increase efforts to combat energy poverty, including by accelerating and simplifying procedures for energy-efficient renovation permits and licences; calls on the Member States to support energy-poor households to combat energy poverty; stresses the importance of the social climate plans in supporting renovation to help tackle high energy prices; calls on the Commission to monitor closely the progress made so far in preventing energy poverty;

Added:21. Recalls that the aim of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is to reduce energy consumption for households; acknowledges that the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive imposes building requirements that could affect construction costs; notes the importance of environmental standards, such as the energy performance certificate, and calls for measures to ensure that these standards do not have a negative impact on both rental and property markets; expresses concern about the calculation methods and inconsistencies in the energy labelling of residential buildings, which should accurately reflect the actual energy performance of properties; warns about the possible consequences of such labelling; acknowledges that the practical implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive affects many construction companies and private owners; stresses the need to ensure that regulations do not lead to higher costs for both tenants and property buyers; calls for energy renovation projects to become more accessible through technical assistance and advisory services; calls on the Member States to facilitate participation in energy communities for social housing residents, supporting citizen-led renovation, while respecting national priorities and available resources;

Added:22. Calls on the Member States to adopt an efficient and incentive-based tax system for housing policies; calls on the Commission to undertake a thorough assessment of how tax incentives at national level affect the housing market; underlines that fiscal policies should serve social inclusion; considers that the OECD’s international standards regarding housing policies have proven beneficial, encouraging housing investment and helping to curb house price pressures, thereby stimulating supply in high-demand areas; calls on the Commission and the Member States to establish fiscal incentives for housing renovation and new construction; calls, following a comprehensive impact assessment, for a reform of the VAT Directive that could allow for the application of a super-reduced value added tax rate to the supply and construction of housing, as part of a social policy, as defined by the Member States, to renovation and alteration, including demolition and reconstruction, and repairing of housing and private dwellings, and to the letting of immovable property for residential use; stresses that such measures should respect fiscal neutrality, be consistent with the EU’s objectives and prioritise support for low- and middle-income households;

Added:23. Underlines that tax policy is an exclusive competence of the Member States; calls for a healthy tax mix in the Member States, strengthening efforts to remove tax obstacles for new entrants to the housing market, such as high registration taxes in certain countries, while at the same time promoting tax conditions that make long-term rentals more affordable, stable and secure; calls on the Member States to review tax regimes with the aim of increasing mobility and ensuring a more efficient use of housing; calls on the Member States to ensure that any tax and financial incentives to support housing contribute to a decent, sustainable and affordable housing market, avoiding price inflation and market-distorting practices that would worsen access to housing;

Added:Raw materials and products for construction and renovation

Added:24. Requests that the Commission issue an analysis of the different causes affecting the price and supply of raw materials and products for construction and renovation, including legislation, with a view to improving access to them and ensuring that the cost of renewal of previous building design features does not escalate, in accordance with the EU’s competences and the subsidiarity principle; regrets the lack of a unified single market for raw materials and products for construction and renovation; calls on the Commission to improve the scale-up of innovative and sustainable products and their accessibility in all Member States; calls for particular scrutiny of competition in the construction materials sector to ensure the competitiveness of the sector; believes that innovative solutions are needed to achieve affordable housing and to ensure a future-proof building stock, one solution being prefabrication or off-site construction for renovation, rather than on-site construction, which can substantially shorten construction times and help address supply gaps; underlines that industrial prefabrication can decrease construction time by 20-50 % and therefore reduce the associated disruption, as well as create significant energy and cost savings; is convinced of the importance of the circularity of materials and the resilience of the building sector, including through design that facilitates re-use and the promotion of local sourcing of building materials; requests that the Commission study the impact of import tariffs on the security of supply and prices of essential building materials needed for the renovation and construction sector, and that it explore new markets for such materials, including through the promotion of strategic agreements; calls for the strengthening of the single market for raw materials and products essential to the housing sector; in this vein, calls for the swift implementation of the Construction Products Regulation and for EU-wide certification routes to support sustainable construction and competitiveness;

Added:25. Highlights the importance for the EU of enhancing its industrial sovereignty in the construction and renovation sectors and of coming up with measures for identifying and addressing gaps in the construction production chain; calls on the Member States to encourage the use of construction materials produced in the European Union, thereby supporting local job creation and enhancing the EU’s competitiveness; calls on public authorities to incentivise the technologies produced in Europe by applying the principle of European preference in public procurement; calls on the Commission to include minimum origin clauses for EU co-financed projects in the sustainable construction sector for ‘Made in EU’ components, and to launch support programmes for industrial conversion, research and investment within the European value chain; underlines the responsibility of authorities and industry to ensure high standards in construction, protection against defective building materials and accountability; stresses the need for appropriate EU-level safeguards to protect consumers and workers; stresses the importance of improving the sustainability and durability of European buildings and incentivising sustainable and durable refurbishment, while taking due account of the situations and constraints faced by households living in housing in need of refurbishment;

Productivity and innovation

Change 9

Changed:11.26. EncouragesEmphasises that regulatory frameworks should support innovation; encourages the competent public authorities to invest in productivity and innovation within the housing sector notto onlyincrease tocapacity improveand reduce construction costs while improving the quality of housing stock, in terms of energy performance, energy efficiency, indoor air quality and ventilation, acoustic and thermal insulation, structural soliditysolidity, and affordability, butaccessibility, alsoand to foster productivity and efficiency in the construction process itself, through faster, more cost-effectivecost effective and less labour-intensive methods, including the industrialisationindustrialisation, prefabrication and digitalisation of building techniques; calls for EU and nationaltechniques, fundswhere toappropriate, strengthenwhile supportensuring forthat innovationtraditional inand thehybrid construction sector, particularly that driven by micro-enterprisesmethods andcontinue SMEsto focusedbe onsupported, researchparticularly intoin newrenovation materials;contexts;

Change 10

Removed:Granting legal certainty: the fundamental right to private property

Added:27. Calls for new dwellings to meet reasonable quality and habitability standards on insulation, energy-efficiency, indoor air quality and fire safety; calls for better coordination at EU level to increase fire safety in the Member States; calls on the competent public authorities to ensure that innovation in the housing sector supports local enterprises and traditional crafts, and does not lead to increased housing costs or the displacement of residents; calls for EU and national funds to strengthen support for innovation and research in the construction sector, such as projects led by European microenterprises and SMEs focused on research into new materials and construction methods, and to link innovation support to affordability; calls for European financial instruments to help SMEs scale up module and off-site housing delivery; calls for the development and deployment of smart home solutions and technologies; calls for the standardisation of Building Information Modelling; calls for the European Construction Sector Observatory to be strengthened; calls for innovation to go hand in hand with labour standards, safe working conditions and fair and stable contracts to make the construction sector more attractive; calls on the Commission to introduce a ‘Housing Valleys’ initiative, creating collaborative hubs for housing solutions based on the model of Innovation Valleys;

Removed:12. Recalls that EU citizens have the right to own, use, dispose of and inherit lawfully acquired possessions; calls for coordinated policies at EU level to prevent and address all forms of illegal housing occupation, as a key element for ensuring legal certainty, economic stability and security; calls for the establishment of a European register of illegal occupation to support cooperation, data collection and information-sharing between the Member States and to identify patterns of criminally-linked occupation; considers it essential to uphold the right to property and combat illegal occupation, ensuring effective and swift legal mechanisms for the recovery of property;

Added:Granting legal certainty and protection to property owners and tenants

Removed:Tackling specific labour needs: attracting talent and innovation

Added:28. Stresses that housing policy must strike a fair balance between protecting owners’ rights and safeguarding tenants; recalls that EU citizens have the right to own, use, dispose of and inherit lawfully acquired possessions; strongly condemns the phenomenon of illegal occupation of private and public properties across Europe, known as squatting, which infringes on the fundamental right to private property; calls on the Member States to protect this fundamental right and adopt stricter measures to safeguard owners, ensuring swift and effective legal mechanisms for the recovery of property, including timely court orders for evictions, strengthening protection for victims of such acts, restoring lawful possessions and upholding the rule of law; underlines that the illegal occupation of housing units can generate insecurity, urban decay and social tension and undermine social cohesion; considers that owners being lawfully able to regain control of their dwellings is not only a matter of fairness and justice, but is also vital for maintaining investor confidence and rental supply; calls for coordinated policies at EU level to address and curb housing occupation, guaranteeing the right to property and the legal certainty of owners as important elements for ensuring, economic stability and security, in particular protecting small owners who depend on rental income as a means of earning a living, such as pensioners; calls for better cooperation, data collection and information-sharing between the Member States in this regard; and calls for better use of Europol tools where organised crime is suspected to be involved in squatting, including by exploring the added value and possible establishment of an online platform;

Removed:13. Is concerned about the labour gap and the lack of competitiveness in the construction and renovation sectors, and the shortage of skilled workers; encourages construction companies to invest more in vocational education and training (VET) of young people, as well as lifelong learning to upskill and reskill their workers;

Added:29. Encourages property owners to offer long-term and stable rental contracts, in order to enhance security of tenure and provide greater predictability for tenants; encourages the Member States to increase transparency in the private rental sector, based on the advertised prices, with the aim of improving housing conditions for tenants, and to strengthen national legislation in this regard; calls on the Member States to strengthen the protection of tenants’ rights, including by encouraging online rental platforms to provide information on average rent levels in the area, in order to ensure fair conditions and prevent disproportionate rent increases; calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen their commitment to ensuring equality and non-discrimination in the housing sector; calls for coordinated responses from social services to resolve tenant-owner conflicts and prevent further vulnerability of the parties involved, including small owners and vulnerable tenants in these circumstances; encourages the Member States to offer legal dispute settlement mechanisms for resolving housing-related disputes, for example, in cases of prolonged or abusive non-compliance with rental contracts that deprive owners of the legitimate use of their homes, as well as landlords who fail to comply with tenants obligations; calls on public authorities to protect families, in particular those with children, for example, by facilitating access to temporary shelter to address short-term vulnerability, with the protection of vulnerable families resting with competent authorities; underlines that local authorities need to identify and address cases of non-compliance with property, management and safety requirements, contributing to higher standards in the private rental market; condemns abusive housing practices that subject tenants in vulnerable situations to inadequate, unsafe or unsanitary conditions; supports the role of tenants’ unions and housing civil society actors as stakeholders in housing policy;

Removed:14. Urges the Member States and the Commission to effectively use existing tools for matching skills in the construction sector, in line with the Construction Industry Skill Card within the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), in order to help regions with severe workforce shortages; welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a single digital declaration portal to reduce the administrative burden for the posting of workers and calls for its swift negotiation and implementation; urges the Member States to make use of the voluntary common electronic form for declarations for the posting of workers;

Added:Tackling specific labour needs: guaranteeing quality jobs, developing talent and investing in skills

Added:30. Is concerned about the labour gap and the lack of competitiveness in the construction and renovation sectors, and the shortage of skilled workers; calls for the European Affordable Housing Plan to be connected to the EU Quality Jobs Roadmap; underlines that the housing crisis cannot be solved without a fully trained and mobile construction workforce; stresses the importance of improving the working conditions of construction workers in order to address labour shortages and attract a skilled workforce; underlines, therefore, the need to guarantee fair wages, stable employment, safe working conditions, improved contracts, and health and safety standards; stresses that workers’ rights should be respected and enforced, and encourages effective monitoring, including the use of digital tools and company registers to detect fraud; calls for national measures to prevent accidents at construction sites; calls for strengthening the implementation of the EU occupational safety and health acquis; calls for the Member States to improve collective bargaining for workers in the construction and renovation sectors;

Added:31. Highlights that under the upcoming European Strategy for Housing Construction, it is of the utmost importance to better tackle skills shortages to ensure the availability of necessary, skilled workers in order to improve the construction sector’s efficiency; encourages the Member States, public authorities and construction companies to invest more in vocational education and training (VET) and apprenticeships linked to the construction sector, as well as lifelong learning to upskill and reskill workers in these sectors in close cooperation with social partners, including skills for modular home construction, energy-efficient construction and renovation, new sustainable construction materials, and digital solutions; highlights the need to expand VET in the construction sector and to improve access to skills training in regions with low construction output; calls for vocational and apprenticeship programmes focused on modern methods of construction; stresses the need to fast track construction apprenticeships through modular, dual delivery training; highlights the need to train workers of the construction industry on net-zero technologies and to deploy related skills across the production chain and all skills levels in order to ensure that low-skilled workers can also benefit from training on new technologies; calls on the Member States to actively promote and deploy the content produced by the net-zero skills academies; calls on the Member States to make provisions for voluntary, appropriate, industry-regulated construction site training for students; calls for EU funds, such as the ESF+, to be mobilised to back skills development in the construction and renovation sectors;

Added:32. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to boost labour mobility in the construction sector as one of the ways to alleviate skills shortages; urges the Member States and the Commission to effectively use existing tools for matching skills in the construction sector, in line with the Construction Industry Skill Card within the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), in order to help regions with severe workforce shortages and promote cross-border opportunities for skilled workers; stresses the need to ensure protections for mobile workers, including equal rights, decent working conditions, and access to training in order to ensure fair mobility; calls on the Commission to facilitate intra-EU mobility with minimal administrative burden, through initiatives for strengthening the mutual recognition of professional qualifications in the sector including, where necessary, for skilled workers from third countries; highlights the need for recognition and validation of professional skills and qualifications across the EU, as part of the European Strategy for Housing Construction; calls on the Commission to revise the Professional Qualifications Directive) to improve the mutual recognition of qualifications in the sector; welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a skills portability initiative to enhance the portability of skills and qualifications across the EU, independently of where they were acquired, as part of the Union of Skills; further welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a single digital declaration portal to reduce the administrative burden for the posting of workers and calls for its swift negotiation and implementation; calls for national labour legislation to support efforts to address long-term labour shortages;

Added:33. Encourages the Commission and the Member States to ensure that legal labour migrants and seasonal workers whose accommodation is provided through their employer have access to decent, sustainable and affordable housing; stresses that no worker should be forced to live in overcrowded or poor conditions; calls for strengthened monitoring in this regard; calls on the Commission and the Member States to analyse the social and territorial effects of concentrated housing for labour migrants and seasonal workers; stresses the need to assess whether such spatial segregation undermines social cohesion and the integration of communities; calls on the Member States to collect data at regional and local level on the location and conditions of employer-provided accommodation; calls for a review of the European Labour Authority for more effective cross-border enforcement;

Small and medium-sized enterprises

Change 11

Removed:15. Calls on the Member States to strongly support micro-enterprises, SMEs and the self-employed in the construction and housing sectors, and stresses the importance of removing regulatory barriers that hinder their competitiveness, talent attraction and market access; recognises the work and effort of the self-employed as the core labour force in these sectors, and calls for special protection for them;

Added:34. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to strongly support micro-enterprises, SMEs and the self-employed in the construction and housing sectors, including through the provision of the necessary, accessible financing instruments and by ensuring timely payment for public contracts, while removing administrative burdens related to payments due; stresses the importance of improving regulatory frameworks that hinder the competitiveness and employability of micro-enterprises, SMEs and the self-employed, and of addressing the lack of EU-harmonised, performance-based standards and the prevalence of lengthy standardisation timelines, which prevent the uptake of innovative construction materials, in order to attract and foster talent and allow easier market access; recognises the contribution of the self-employed as a crucial labour force in these sectors, and calls for special protection to ensure stability, fair treatment and social protection for them; invites the Commission and the EIB Group to simplify access to EU funding schemes for micro-enterprises and artisans, paying particular attention to rural and depopulated areas, as a way to preserve local skills and employment; highlights that supporting micro-enterprises and the self-employed is not only an economic priority but also a cultural and social one, as it preserves local traditions and strengthens community self-sufficiency; highlights the need to support SMEs, including those that are housing cooperatives and social enterprises, as a broader strategy to engage in the long-term provision of decent, affordable and sustainable housing;

Removed:Public housing supply