Slovak MEPs Martin Hojsík (PS) and Monika Beňová (Smer-SD) were the only members of the special EP Committee on Housing (HOUS) out of 15 Slovak Eurolegislators. Committee on Tuesday (March 10) adopted a report with recommendations for the European Commission preparing legislation to ensure the availability of housing in the EUwhile both MPs provided their opinion on this topic for TASR.
In this regard, EP Vice-President Hojsík recalled that even in the last election period, together with other colleagues from the EP, he demanded that the topic within the competence of the member states be resolved at the European level as well, because the states are “failing”. “I am glad that we had this special committee, that we forced the European Commission to have one commissioner in charge of housing and that we are finally approving the final report of this committee, which is extensive,” stated.
He added that the report is about benefits for people who buy their first flat, talks about problems with short-term rentalsthat the bureaucracy in permitting must be dealt withalso about how to make European money available when the member states, including Slovakia, have failed in this area. He appreciated that there was broad agreement on this report in the EPincluding the fact that a large part of his 100 amendments were incorporated into the report that the European Commission will use in the preparation of new legislation.
Beňová drew attention to Eurostat reports, according to which apartment prices and rents are growing faster than wages in the EU. Since 2010, apartment prices have increased by more than 50 percent on average, and rents by more than a quarter. “For young people, young families or working people, housing, especially in cities, is becoming an unaffordable luxury. This problem is no longer just an economic one, it has also become a social one,” she stated.
She pointed out that the European Commission, as part of the plan to support affordable housing, is talking about greater investments in the construction and renovation of apartments, about easing the rules of state aid, so that states and local governments can act more quickly. “For Slovakia, this is an important signal that Brussels finally realizes that housing cannot be left exclusively to the free market,” she said that if the EC wants to help people, it must follow the path of simpler rules, faster decisions with less administrative duties.
“That is the reason why affordable housing is one of the important topics for the Slovak government, and in the field of construction of state-supported rental apartments, it is doing much more than is the standard in other EU member states. The fact that the European Commission is also starting to report on the topic is also a step in the right direction.” she bequeathed.
