Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has said that the EU are making more of an effort to solve the housing crisis than the Irish government.
The Labour MEP, who serves as lead negotiator for the S&D Group on the European Parliament Housing Committee, has welcomed the European Commission’s publication of the Affordable Housing Act, which brings a new legal framework to tackle the “unrestricted and unsustainable growth” of short-term rentals.
Ó Ríordáin said the move was a result of “sustained pressure” from the Socialists and Democrats Group, Labour’s European Parliament Grouping.
In the current European Parliament, the Socialists and Democrats, traditionally the largest or second-largest party in the European Parliament, have struggled to influence policy owing to the right-wing to far-right grouping having an outright majority.
However, Ó Ríordáin says this move puts housing “firmly on the EU agenda for the first time.”
“This is a landmark moment. For years, housing has been treated as a purely national issue in Brussels. Today that changes. This Act would not exist without Labour’s grouping in the European Parliament, the Socialists and Democrats Group, fighting for it. We forced this issue onto the European agenda, and now the Commission is finally giving authorities the tools to act against some of the key forces driving families out of their homes,” he said.
He explained, “this regulation moves beyond the previous EU rules on short-term rentals, which were limited purely to data collection. Now, for the first time, the EU is providing a legal framework for national and local authorities to restrict the unsustainable growth of short-term rentals in cities across Europe.
“We cannot allow for a situation to exist where tourists are staying in houses on Airbnb while families are living in hotels that have been turned into emergency accommodation. That is the reality in Dublin right now, and it is obscene. This Act gives local and national authorities power to tackle the proliferation of short-term rentals, vacant homes and non-primary residences that are hollowing out our housing stock.
“Once again, it is Europe stepping in where our own government has failed to get a grip on this crisis. Now the EU is doing the work of setting the standard. The government should take this Act, use every power it gives them,” the Labour MEP said.