European Commission’s Call for Evidence

In response to the European Commission’s Call for Evidence on the European Affordable Housing Plan, we submitted a comprehensive plea reflecting the shared priorities of our network. Our submission aimed to influence EU policy with a focus on housing as a system, aligned with broader sustainability and social goals.

All over Europe, countries, regions, and cities are facing pressing and interrelated housing challenges. Rising costs, shortages of affordable and adequate housing, spatial inequalities, and growing displacement affect millions of European citizens. These challenges strike at the heart of European values such as social inclusion, equality, cohesion, and the right to decent living conditions. They also have implications across policy areas including climate, mobility, labour, and public health.

We, the participants of the Brussels Convening, a coalition of 35 policy makers, planners, designers, architects, tenants’ representatives, researchers, developers, and practitioners from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France, acknowledge and welcome the ongoing efforts by the European Commission to work towards a coherent
European Housing Agenda. We recognise the necessity of a transnational perspective that supports and enables local and regional strategies rather than complicating them. Therefore, we offer our expertise and collaboration to help shape a European Housing Agenda that aligns the ambitions of the European Union with the territorial realities of its diverse regions. We call upon the European Commission, national governments, regional coalitions, and local authorities to act together on.

This collaborative effort was made possible by the active involvement of Vereniging Deltametropool (VDM), the International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP), Randstad Provinces, regional and local authorities, together with a diverse group of experts.

1

Working on the EU-perspective

We propose to initiate and disseminate a focused agenda on addressing spatial and demographic challenges from a European Union perspective. Rural depopulation, rapid urbanisation, and housing market tensions are not isolated national issues but interconnected, transboundary phenomena. Migration, labour dynamics, and investment flows operate across borders, demanding coordinated EU-level strategies. Tackling these  challenges collectively can strengthen cohesion, spatial justice, and long-term resilience across the Union.

2

Treat Housing as a system

Housing is a system, but more importantly: housing is part of a larger system. That is what makes housing a big priority for EU. because other agendas depend on housing. Housing policy must be integrated with spatial planning, mobility. labor markets. health. and sustainability. Fragmentation has failed us; now we must align instruments, institutions, and investments around shared territorial and social outcomes.

3

Confront the crisis of spatial mismatch

Too often, people are pushed far from where opportunities are found, jobs, education, care, and culture, resulting in long commutes, rising emissions, and social isolation. The problem is not just a lack of homes, but a failure to provide the right homes in the right places. We must match housing policy with spatial, mobility, and economic strategies. Prioritize housing where people work, study, and live their lives. Plan for equity, not just quantity.

4

Focus on planning not the project

Shift the emphasis from isolated projects to integrated, long-term planning frameworks. Restore the role of planning as a democratic and creative act—one that shapes not only where we live, but how we live together. Support local authorities in reclaiming long-term planning capacity, especially in underserved territories.

5

Support renovation and regeneration, not just expansion

The housing of the future already exists. Europe’s greatest potential lies in its current neighborhoods, and the need to combine growth and improvement together, rather than opposing. We don’t have a square meter problem, we have a distribution and utilization problem. Instead of endless expansion, we must unlock the value of what is already built. Invest in retrofitting, densification, and circular construction. Shift the cultural narrative: reuse is not a fallback it is innovation.

6

Strengthen the role of local and regional authorities

Cities and regions are where housing needs are most acute and solutions most tangible. Empower them with the tools, funding, and legal frameworks to plan holistically and act decisively.

7

Listen to those most affected

Involve tenants, residents, and local actors in the design, governance, and evaluation of housing strategies. Participation is not a tick-box it is the foundation of legitimacy, resilience, and justice. Next, we must shift focus toward enabling and incentivising a multitude of small, precise, and community-rooted actions. These decentralized efforts, when supported with the right tools and resources, can collectively drive systemic change and build a more just and resilient housing future.

8

Advocate an open dialoge on public instruments and anti-speculation

Ensure that EU funds and financing platforms benefit those building for the common good. Empowering public, cooperative, and community-led housing providers. Introduce strong social conditionalities to safeguard against financialisation and speculation. Crucially, establish mechanisms to retain capital within the housing system itself, ensuring that returns are reinvested into affordability, quality, and longterm resilience, rather than extracted for private gain.

9

Establish mechanisms for procedural feedback and learning

To enable effective action, cities and regions must not only be empowered but also supported through iterative, transparent processes of feedback and reflection. This includes providing clear procedural guidance from higher levels of governance, fostering peer exchange among territories, and ensuring that local actors can adapt and improve based on realtime insights and evolving needs.

10

Reconnect the networks

We must build a platform where planners talk with designers, where tenants speak alongside developers, where Brussels learns from Bilbao, and Amsterdam learns from Zagreb. Europe must not only legislate but facilitate dialogue, exchange, and experimentation.

11

Culture of living and Housing

When we build living environments, we are not just constructing physical spaces but shaping societies and building for communities. Housing is cultural infrastructure. It reflects who we are, how we relate to one another, and the values we choose to uphold.

As a group of experts and networks, we offer to support for developing instruments at the EU level, not only funding but regulatory clarity, guidance on land use, and the scaffolding for regional and metropolitan coordination. Spatial planning must be re-legitimized, supported, and resourced, especially at the levels where projects are delivered and lives are lived.

We want to build a European-wide framework for renovation, regeneration and densification. This includes funding streams that favour the reuse of existing buildings, digital permitting systems to reduce delays, and incentives for energy-efficient upgrades that do not displace residents or increase rents. We ask for a clear stance on conditionality. Public/EU investment should come with social safeguards: permanent affordability, non-speculative use, and tenant protections particularly in the context of renovation.

We urge the Commission to support us for initiating and maintaining a knowledge-sharing platform. We are willing to initiate and curate a space where experts from design, planning, legal innovation, finance, and governance can interact and document the best practices for all the European states.

Randstadsamenwerking

The four provinces in the Randstad, Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Utrecht en Flevoland have a cooperation on European Affairs in Brussels and make a special program for each year. The cooperation is part of the cooperation in the House of the Dutch provinces.