The European Commission will complete this Wednesday its first regulatory measures regarding affordable housing with a document of recommendations focused on the implementation of housing acceleration plans aimed at expanding the available residential stock. This is a set of non-binding measures that will accompany the regulation with which Brussels intends to restrict the sale of second properties in pressured areas.
Among the key priorities that Brussels will send to the Twenty-Seven are those related to the simplification of the permitting processes, the modernization of construction techniques, and the prioritization of the renovation of existing buildings over new constructions, especially where there is capacity to recover housing through rehabilitation. The drafts that DEMÓCRATA has accessed before their presentation underline the need to increase social housing through innovative land management policies, in addition to mobilizing various sources of public and private financing.
The consulted sources indicate that the Commission's goal is to improve economic and residential mobility in coordination with the Member States, addressing the difficulties generated by the insufficient supply in certain local markets. The community approach aims, therefore, to combine measures aimed at increasing the residential stock with others aimed at improving the functioning of the market.
For example, the Executive urges national governments to equally benefit public and private housing providers, in addition to basing their plans on empirical data and paying special attention to accommodations located below market price. Another of the recommendations suggests expanding the scope of these plans beyond the areas considered pressured. Brussels proposes that commuting areas and urban areas should also be taken into account, so that housing policies can incorporate the territorial dynamics that connect the main urban centers with their metropolitan areas.
Digital licenses and a 60-day deadline
To energize the construction and rehabilitation sector, the Community Executive considers that national, regional, and local authorities must streamline permits and licenses, including the implementation of digital processing systems. Among the proposed measures is also the establishment of openBIM as a legally recognized presentation format, with the aim of facilitating interoperability and digitalization of the procedures related to construction projects.
The Commission also contemplates the creation of fast processes for those renovations that allow improving the energy efficiency of buildings. The goal is to reduce administrative times that, in certain markets, can become one of the main bottlenecks for quickly increasing the residential supply.
One of the recommendations with the greatest potential impact is the possibility of setting a deadline of 60 days for simple projects, along with the introduction of positive administrative silence for certain steps of the procedure when appropriate. The measure aims to reduce the uncertainty associated with authorization procedures and provide greater predictability to promoters, administrations, and owners. The community approach does not establish a single authorization model for the Twenty-Seven, but does set a clear orientation towards reducing administrative burdens and processing times.
Prefabricated houses?
The document also recommends taking advantage of the existing flexibilities in the European Union public procurement rules to accelerate the delivery of housing projects. This opens the door to the use of methods considered innovative, such as prefabrication, framework contracts, joint purchases, or certain emergency procedures, always within the limits established by the community public procurement framework.
Brussels aims for member states to take advantage of these tools to reduce execution times and facilitate the planning of larger-scale projects. The Community Executive also wants the Twenty-Seven to promote professional updating and specialized training in areas such as digital skills, land acquisition, and modern construction methods.
At this point, the explicit recognition of the capacity limitations of certain local administrations acquires special relevance. The Commission points out that the municipalities of small towns "must have centralized administrative capacity or technical support for these functions".
The fiscal key
To increase the proportion of social housing, Brussels proposes to review the tax systems with the aim of favoring affordable housing providers. The document also suggests that, when a housing unit receives public subsidies, it maintains its social purpose for a minimum period of 20 years. The goal is to prevent public investment from generating only a temporary effect on the supply of affordable housing.
Given the volume of vacant homes existing in various European markets, the Commission also proposes to adapt other national regulatory frameworks to facilitate their incorporation into the available stock. Specifically, the possibility of adjusting tax systems to disincentivize prolonged vacancy is proposed, for example through taxes on empty homes, as long as they are "backed by clear detection methods".
The proposal seeks to combine tax incentives and disincentives with a greater capacity of administrations to effectively identify properties that remain vacant for prolonged periods. Another of the proposed measures affects co-ownership laws, with the aim of facilitating decision-making in homeowners' communities when approving renovation, rehabilitation, or change of use works.
In order to address the housing problem among young people, the Commission suggests that member states could facilitate the rental of individual rooms through more flexible tax and leasing frameworks. The logic behind this proposal is to make more efficient use of the existing residential stock, especially in those cities where the lack of available housing coexists with underutilized larger properties.
The document also proposes to support voluntary housing exchange programs, aimed at adjusting the size of each property to the actual needs of its occupants. This is an approach that seeks to improve the utilization of the residential stock without relying exclusively on the construction of new homes.
The land, a critical element to contain prices
In this process, the Commission identifies land control and availability as one of the critical points to moderate housing prices. The Brussels plan involves allowing authorities to acquire land and buildings, both private and public, suitable for housing construction, in addition to promoting formulas that allow separating land ownership from building ownership.
Likewise, there is a call to create public land agencies, land banks, or development corporations equipped with sufficient financial capabilities and technical knowledge to acquire land, carry out environmental remediation processes, or free up plots for new projects. The intention is to provide administrations with instruments capable of intervening more proactively in the land market, preventing the scarcity of available land from directly translating into the final price of housing.
The financial dimension constitutes another pillar of the package. The investment gap that European offices handle approaches 150 billion euros over the next decade, which requires combining national resources with European financial instruments. That is why Brussels proposes to establish national housing investment branches capable of channeling financing towards local projects, in addition to fully utilizing the financial instruments of the Union available under the Multiannual Financial Framework.
The creation of revolving funds for social promoters and land banks is also contemplated, in which the margins obtained are mandatorily reinvested in the maintenance or expansion of the housing stock. The ultimate goal is to generate financial mechanisms capable of maintaining a permanent investment capacity, preventing resources allocated for affordable housing from being exhausted once a particular project is completed.
Stay tuned
The recommendation paper that Brussels will present this Wednesday thus represents a second component of the European regulatory package on housing, alongside the regulation that will govern tourist accommodations, as well as the sale of homes for non-residential use. According to sources involved in the drafting of the documents, the measures have received a favorable reception among a significant part of the European parliamentary spectrum and the sector, especially those aimed at reducing administrative times, mobilizing land, and facilitating the financing of affordable housing projects.
However, the Commission will not close its strategy with the files it will present this Wednesday. The community executive plans to complete during 2027 a new phase of action with the presentation of a regulatory simplification plan related to housing, aimed at further reducing administrative burdens and accelerating construction and rehabilitation processes. Although these recommendations will not be binding, they aim to establish a common framework of action for member states and guide their national policies towards a shared goal: increasing residential supply and reducing regulatory obstacles that hinder access to housing in European markets with the highest levels of pressure.