Housing Exclusion
Policies
The EU is grappling with significant challenges such as unemployment, labour mismatches, and a rising number of young people not in education, employment, or training.
Homelessness is one of the most severe outcomes of the housing affordability crisis. FEANTSA reports a 70% increase in homelessness between 2010 and 2020, with approximately 900,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the EU. Despite these alarming numbers, few countries are making tangible progress in addressing the problem—an unacceptable situation for a continent committed to social inclusion.
What do we do/want?
Public, cooperative, and social housing providers are committed to being key players in tackling the most extreme forms of social exclusion. In this context, we must ask: should public funds be allocated to address the social consequences of the housing or cost-of-living crises and prevent further harm to society? Securing access to decent, affordable housing is the most effective way to prevent the growing emergency of homelessness and housing exclusion.
Policymakers must encourage long-term national and local partnerships between housing providers, social services, and local authorities to meet the support needs of those at risk. EU platforms, such as the European Platform for Combatting Homelessness, must urgently back these partnerships to end housing exclusion.
Finding a home after losing everything, by BBC Storyworks
Mustafa and his family lost everything in the Syrian civil war. Through the Refugee Resettlement project, Co-operative Housing Ireland, along with other agencies, committed to help some of the families who had to flee from their countries by providing safe places to live for people like Mustafa and his family.
Funding opportunities for Housing Exclusion
Ambient Assisted Living Programme – AALJP
AAL Call 2021 is “Advancing Inclusive Health & Care Solutions for Ageing Well in the New Decade”
AMIF – Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund
The Fund will contribute to the achievement of four specific objectives and it also provides financial resources for the activities and future development of the European Migration Network (EMN).
Erasmus Plus
EU programme for education, training, youth and sport
The 2021-2027 Erasmus+ programme brings over €28 billion (compared with €14.7 billion for 2014-2020) to support education, training, youth and sport. The budget will be complemented by about €2.2 billion from the EU’s external instruments.
European Solidarity Fund
The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) was created in 2002 to provide financial assistance to EU countries and candidate countries facing major natural disasters.Since then, it has been used for 107 disasters covering a range of different catastrophic events including floods, forest fires, earthquakes, storms and drought. It supplements Member States’ public expenditure to finance essential emergency operations undertaken by the authorities. So far, 24 Member States (plus the UK) and 3 accession countries (Albania, Montenegro and Serbia) have been supported so far for an amount of over €8.2 billion.
EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation – EaSI
European Commission shares best practices. For the period 2021 – 2027, the EaSI programme will become a strand under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).
Remember to check the funding opportunities in the other 3 policy sections.
News and articles
Implementation of the Recovery and Resilience facility: Challenges and success factors of public, cooperative, and social housing providers.
Summary of the April 2025 Prague Local Workshop of the European Responsible Housing Finance Working Group
Strengthening Social and Public Housing through Sustainable Plus Energy Neighbourhoods
Public, cooperative, and social housing is the key to solving Europe’s housing crisis. Our meeting with EU Housing Commissioner Jørgensen
Celebrating Innovation & Inclusion: Finalists Announced for the 2025 European Responsible Housing Awards