News » End of the affordable housing sector in Greece as consequence of the new austerity measures
End of the affordable housing sector in Greece as consequence of the new austerity measures
On Sunday February 12th, as part of a new set of austerity measures, the Greek Parliament voted for the immediate closure of the Workers' Housing Organization (OEK), a public body member of CECODHAS Housing Euorpe (the European Federation of Public, Cooperative and Social Housing) which is the only organisation in Greece providing affordable housing for employees in the private and public sectors and until 2009 was responsible for about 95% of the total annual construction activity of the public sector.
Vit Vanicek, current President of CECODHAS Housing Europe said: “Without questioning the sovereign right of the Greek parliament to take decisions it deems necessary and although we are fully aware of the gravity of the situation in Greece, we must express our deep concern that the disappearance of the affordable housing sector in Greece will add to the dramatic situation in which tens of thousands of Greek workers are now put in and will likely undermine one of the most fundamental elements that could have been the basis of a future recovery”. “It is also a harsh setback on the implementation of the right to housing as a basic social right promoted by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights” continued Vanicek.
CECODHAS Housing Europe express its support for its member OEK and call Mr. George Koutroumanis Minister of Labour and Social Security to find an alternative solution to the closure of this organisation and thus the end of the affordable housing sector. At the same time, CECODHAS Housing Europe calls on the Council of Ministers of the EU to adopt emergency measures for Greece in order to maintain essential social services including affordable housing. Those emergency measures could take the form of exceptional disbursement of Structural Funds with a 100% co-financing rate.
Note to the editor:
To find out more about social housing in Greece, please read page 54 of the Housing Europe Review 2012: http://www.housingeurope.eu/www.housingeurope.eu/uploads/file_/HER%202012%20EN%20web2_1.pdf
CECODHAS Housing Europe ‘ The Federation of public, cooperative and social housing’, is a network of national and regional social housing federations gathering 4.500 public, voluntary housing organisations and 28.000 cooperatives housing. Together the 45 members in 19 EU members States manage 25 million dwellings representing about 12% of the housing stock in EU. CECODHAS members work together for a Europe that provides access to decent and affordable housing for all in communities which are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable and where all are enabled to reach their full potential.
Contact: Claire Roumet, Secretary General, email: claire.roumet@housingeurope.eu, tel; 00 32 2 541 05 68
