By Rikke Skovgaard Nielsen
In June 2025, the Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen appointed a Housing Advisory Board, chaired by former Irish Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and for Transport, Eamon Ryan. One of the 15 members of the board is the author of this piece, DASH-researcher Rikke Skovgaard Nielsen, Aalborg University.
Recently, the board published 75 recommendations on how the EU can assist national and local actors in ensuring the provision of affordable housing. The recommendations can be accessed here: https://housing.ec.europa.eu/news/commissioner-jorgensen-welcomes-recommendations-housing-advisory-board-how-tackle-housing-crisis-2025-11-20_en. They cover a wide range of themes from planning to funding and cross-national data collection. Here, I want to highlight five key messages, based on my own main fields of research.
First, it is imperative that we understand housing as an essential social and economic infrastructure, recognising adequate housing as a foundational pillar that societies depend on. In doing so, we must adopt a “leave no one behind” approach, striving to ensure affordability for all members of society. Second, affordability must not be understood solely as the price of the unit itself. Affordability also entails being able to afford renovation, energy and other costs as well as having access to affordable local services. Third, while new construction might be necessary in some cities, it must never be the first solution. Rather, other solutions should be utilised first, ensuring that we use all the space we already have first and become better at sharing this space. Fourth, when we renovate, we must avoid urban sprawl as well as the displacement of original residents, both in the short- and long-term. Fifth, and finally, we must consider the implications for other places of increasing the number of available units in the urban centres. Other areas, often rural, are struggling to survive, and increasing the availability of affordable units in the cities might aggravate the urban-rural divide. Investing in transport and rural infrastructure can help people return to rural areas, towns and villages.
The 75 recommendations were handed over to the Commissioner mid-November. In mid-December, the European Affordable Housing Plan will be published. This will spark an even greater attention to the challenges of and potential solutions for providing affordable housing. DASH’ers will engage with this debate at local, national and EU level, providing our input, and we encourage the readers of our newsletter to do the same. Let’s find the solutions together!
Disclaimer: The policy recommendations and the views expressed above do not reflect the views the European Commission.