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MEPs from the Croatian green left and centre-left parties today did not support the long-awaited proposal for a Report on the housing crisis in the European Union, which was voted on in the EP plenary session.
“I voted against the final text of the report because it does not address the underlying problem of the housing crisis in the EU, nor does it address its causes. Rather, it is a kind of copy of the wish list of construction speculators and large real estate businesses, which was incorporated into the final text by the main rapporteur, Conservative EPP MEP from Spain's Highlands Gimenez Larraz. The report very superficially thematizes the problem of empty apartments and the impact of short-term rent on affordable housing”, says Gordan Bosanac, MP Možemo! in the European Parliament and a member of the Greens/EFA Group.
Despite intensive joint work on the document within the Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union, in which, together with colleagues from other groups on the left and centre, we made a whole series of constructive amendments aimed at addressing the causes of the crisis such as the financialisation of the housing real estate sector, apartmentisation, high rents and inefficient tax policies that reward the accumulation of empty properties as a form of investment austerity, the rapporteur-general sought a majority for his amendments in ad hoc coalitions with the radical and extreme Right, the Bosnian points out.
Bosanac added that unfortunately, the report was supported in this form by HDZ and right-wing MPs from Croatia, supporting the mantra of building new real estate but which will not be owned by young families but will be owned by real estate speculators. ”This reflects their inability, reluctance and inability to design and implement an effective housing policy in Croatia that would increase the availability and affordability of housing, in a country where, according to official statistics from the CBS, there are almost 600,000 empty residential properties. The HDZ, like the rest of the European right, wants to build new housing units instead of putting existing ones into operation through tax and infrastructure policies. With the radical liberalization of construction, it will not allow young people to get to apartments, but to those who see it as an opportunity for further quick earnings through the real estate businesshe stressed.
MP Marko Vešligaj, Member of the Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union, SDP and a member of the S&D Group said that the Report contained parts that were acceptable and important, but the opportunity was missed for the EP to protect citizens more strongly and act in a targeted manner to implement priorities such as increasing the public housing stock and stopping the practices in the real estate market that allow them to be used as a mechanism for profit. “It is the state that must guarantee a roof over its head, this must not be left exclusively to private capital. The current housing policy protects investors and serves as a mechanism for profit, and this report does not offer a clear answer to that”, explains the witch.
“In Croatia, households are the most crowded, young people leave their parents' home very late, there is the greatest growth in real estate prices, so clear measures are needed”, he said and recalled the research he published, which shows that 70 percent of young people in Croatia cannot afford to buy and rent an apartment, while this EP Report does not mention additional financial resources, but the burden of financing has been shifted to the Member States. “The Croatian government has decided to allocate “as much as” 30 million euros for this purpose. How much can we build with thirty million euros, a hundred apartments and thirty houses”, asks the Vešligaj.
“We stand by our demands to invest in public, green and affordable housing, to increase availability for housing renovations, to eradicate homelessness by 2030, to regulate short-term rent to stop rising long-term housing rents, and to end speculation on residential real estate.”, Bosanac said after the vote.
