STRASBOURG - The European Parliament will hold a press conference on Tuesday, 10 March 2026, at 17:30 CET, on the ever deepening housing crisis in the European Union. The meeting will take place in the Daphne Caruana Galizia press conference room in the Parliament building in Strasbourg and will also be available online via the official webcast and the Interactio platform.

The press conference will be attended by the rapporteur-general and the chairman of the special parliamentary committee that has been analysing the housing situation across the Member States in recent months. The Committee has presented a set of recommendations aimed at improving housing affordability, promoting construction and reducing the administrative burden in the sector. The Special Committee on the Housing Crisis was set up on 18 December 2024 to respond to rising house prices, the lack of affordable housing and the deteriorating affordability of housing, particularly for young families, the elderly and low-income groups. According to MEPs, the housing issue has become one of the most important social and economic problems in Europe today.

On 9 February 2026, the Committee adopted final recommendations to serve as the basis for the future European Affordable Housing Strategy. The document highlights the need to increase investment in the construction and renovation of housing stock through a combination of European, national and private financial resources. The MEPs also recommend simplifying the bureaucratic processes involved in the construction and modernisation of housing. Measures to address labour shortages in the construction sector also form an important part of the recommendations. According to the Committee, it is precisely the lack of skilled workers that is significantly slowing down the construction of new housing and making building projects more expensive. The European Union should therefore invest more in vocational training, retraining and the modernisation of construction technology.

Another topic is to strengthen the competitiveness of the construction sector, which has been struggling in recent years with rising prices of building materials, energy costs and complicated regulation. The Committee warns that without structural changes it will become increasingly difficult to meet the growing demand for affordable housing in European cities. MEPs will vote on the final report during the plenary session on 10 March 2026. The outcome of the vote could influence the future shape of European housing policies and pave the way for the creation of a comprehensive EU plan for affordable housing. The press conference will be open not only to journalists present in Strasbourg, but also to media connected online via the Interactio platform. Interpretation will be provided in several languages including English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Polish.

Journalists wishing to ask questions remotely are invited to join at least 30 minutes before the conference starts to test the connection. The organisers recommend using a headset with a microphone to ensure good communication during the discussion. This puts the issue of affordable housing back at the heart of the European political debate. It is hoped that the Committee's proposals will spark a wider debate on how the European Union can respond to the growing social pressure caused by the lack of affordable housing and the rising cost of living.

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