STRASBOURG — Europe has a housing plan. Not everyone is happy about it.
MEPs on the European Parliament’s special housing committee voted through the bloc’s first coordinated response to the continent’s housing crisis on Tuesday a package that includes curbing Airbnb-style short-term lets, pumping more money into social housing, and cutting planning red tape to get homes built faster.
The proposals now go to the full Parliament for a vote by all 720 MEPs before joining the EU’s separate Affordable Housing Plan, launched late last year.
For Ireland — where rents are breaking records and over 16,000 people are homeless the reaction at home was instant and divided.
Labour: We Got What We Needed
Dublin Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin led the left’s negotiations on the committee. He said the original draft had been heavily market-driven with little protection for renters and that he pushed back hard.
“There were earlier proposals that were very much market-led with less state intervention, so we looked to introduce stronger tenants’ rights, tackling of homelessness and changing of state aid rules,” he said.
Did he get what he wanted? Not everything. But enough. “There’s always the risk of not going far enough but not going far enough is better than nothing.”
He made his case from the parliament floor by describing a newborn boy sleeping in a hospital cot beside his own daughter born into homelessness. “He is one of 4,000 homeless children in Dublin and nearly 400,000 across Europe,” Ó Ríordáin said. “These figures should shame us.”
Fine Gael MEP Regina Doherty, vice chair of the committee, backed the plan. “Across Europe we are simply not building enough homes,” she said. “Planning systems are too slow, rules are overly complex, and developers face barriers accessing finance.”
Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said three EU actions alone would be transformative — relaxing state aid rules, cheaper finance for developers, and simpler planning systems.
Sinn Féin: It’s a Love Letter to Developers
Sinn Féin MEPs Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion voted against it and held nothing back.
Boylan called it “little more than a love letter to the construction industry.” She said the EU should step back from housing entirely and stop blocking public investment.
Funchion said the plan “calls for cutting regulation, lowering taxes for construction, and supporting the private sector.” Sound familiar? “This is similar to the approach taken by successive Irish governments that has thus far only exacerbated the crisis and lined the pockets of developers and institutional landlords.”
What the Plan Actually Does
The package targets three areas. Short-term lets platforms like Airbnb have nearly doubled their European listings between 2018 and 2024, gutting supply in cities like Dublin, Lisbon and Barcelona. The plan calls for EU rules to bring that under control. Barcelona has already announced a full ban on short-term lets by November 2028.
On money, more than €43 billion has already been mobilised for housing investment under EU funds for 2021–2027, with a further €10 billion added for 2026–2027. Euronews
On building, a proposed Housing Simplification Package aims to cut the bureaucratic delays that slow planning approval across member states. Since 2010, buying a home across Europe has become 53% more expensive. Rents are up 25%. Building costs have risen 56%. Euronews
Committee rapporteur MEP Borja Giménez Larraz was clear about limits. “We are here to help contribute to the solution — but the final solution will have to come from the member states.”
In other words: Brussels can push. But it cannot build the homes itself.
M10News has been reporting on Dublin’s rent crisis breaking working families apart, Ireland’s 300,000-home target and how the Iran war is making Ireland’s construction crisis harder to solve.
