Housing
Access to affordable and adequate housing is a major concern in many Member States, in their cities and regions, compounded by the crises of recent years. People facing housing affordability problems are at risk of exclusion, insecurity about having to leave one’s home, being unable to meet other basic needs due to high housing costs and having to remain in housing unsuitable for their needs. With rising living costs comes exposure to energy poverty for households that are unable to afford to keep their homes adequately warm or to meet rent or mortgage payments. At the same time, homelessness is a significant problem in the EU.
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The locked-out generation: Europe’s housing market is failing its young people
In the capital cities of Europe, a quiet but profound decoupling has taken place. For decades, the implicit social contract suggested that as economies grew and young workers entered the labour market, they would eventually secure the keys to their own front doors.The housing struggles of Europe's youth
In this episode of Eurofound Talks, Mary McCaughey is joined by Marie Hyland to discuss the latest research on housing issues for Europe’s youth. They explore why property prices and rents have outpaced wages since 2010, leaving many young adults unable to achieve independence.Uneven picture of a changing Europe: Findings from Living and Working in the EU e-survey 2025 - Digital story
This digital story from Eurofound’s 2025 e-survey reveals persistent economic strain, uneven levels of resilience, fragile trust in institutions, ongoing work–life balance challenges and growing concern over environmental issues among Europeans.Demographic change and climate change, with the transition to a climate neutral economy, calls for Eurofound to provide policymakers with new evidence about the living conditions and social situation of different groups in society and assess their needs for housing.
Through its European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), Eurofound measures the living conditions of people in Europe by investigating a range of factors, including housing, housing cost overburden and housing deprivation. The data on housing include information on tenancy type, and dwelling inadequacies including energy poverty and housing insecurity.
The EQLS investigates the social implications of climate neutrality in terms of acceptance and adoption of sustainable behaviour as well as its impact on the cost of living, housing and energy poverty. The research monitors the possible social impact of the green transition on the cost of living, housing and transport. The next edition of the EQLS commences in 2026.
Eurofound research provides evidence on dynamics and trends of inequalities in Europe among various sociodemographic groups and analyses the uneven impact of cost of living and housing. It also analyses housing problems in the EU and the policies that aim to address them. In particular, as renting has become more prevalent among Europe’s youth, the living conditions of young people and their access to housing is an important part of the research agenda.
Eurofound’s research on the cost of living, housing conditions, public services and vulnerable groups aims to support the work of EU policymakers in the monitoring and implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rightsopens in new tab.
The Pillar aims to promote social protection and inclusion, which includes a drive to end homelessness and address issues around access to affordable quality housing, particularly for persons with disabilities and low-income families faced with energy poverty. In 2025, the European Commission launched a review of the Action Plan with initiatives to implement the Pillar.
Taking up a second mandate in December 2024, the Commission President von der Leyen has outlined ambitious proposals for 2024–2029 to tackle the housing crisis. These include the appointment of the first Commission member whose responsibilities include housing, as well as the first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan published on 16 December 2025, and a pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing.
European Commission: The European Affordable Housing Planopens in new tab
In December 2024, the European Parliament established a special committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union (the HOUS Committee). Eurofound provides knowledge to the Committee including evidence on the ways in which various groups are being impacted by the crisis.
Publication 16 October 2025: Housing affordability problems across socio-demographic groupsPDFopens in new tab
Reducing energy costs for households is also an important part of the goals set out in the European Green Deal. In 2021, the European Commission launched the Affordable Housing Initiativeopens in new tab as part of the Renovation Wave Strategy, which aims to renovate 35 million buildings by 2030. The Social Climate Fund rollout in the Member States will support resource-efficient renovations and energy-efficient housing.
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
17 December 2025
Foundational challenges: The housing struggles of Europe’s youth
17 December 2025
European housing dashboard
1 October 2025
Housing affordability: Approaches to measurement and key data insights – Background paper
21 May 2024
Becoming adults: Young people in a post-pandemic world
During the pandemic, many young people had to change their plans for the future. While at the end of 2023 young people’s labour market situation was more favourable than it had been in recent years, many obstacles remained on their route to independence, such as the rising cost of living and inability to move out of the parental home. This report explores young people’s wishes and plans for the future – and the well-being outcomes related to these plans – in the context of the current labour market and housing situation and progress on the implementation of the EU’s reinforced Youth Guarantee.
30 May 2023
Unaffordable and inadequate housing in Europe
Unaffordable housing is a matter of great concern in the EU. It leads to homelessness, housing insecurity, financial strain and inadequate housing. It also prevents young people from leaving their family home. These problems affect people’s health and well-being, embody unequal living conditions and opportunities, and result in healthcare costs, reduced productivity and environmental damage. Private tenants have faced particularly large housing cost increases, and owners with mortgages are vulnerable to interest rate increases. In addition, many owners without mortgages, especially in post-communist and southern European countries, experience poverty and housing inadequacy. The cost-of-living crisis affects people in all tenancies. Social housing and rent subsidies support many, but capacity differs across and within countries, and these measures exclude certain groups in vulnerable situations and fail to reach everyone who is entitled to them. Three quarters of Member States have Housing First initiatives – providing housing for homeless people – but these mostly operate on a small scale. This report maps housing problems in the EU and the policies that address them, drawing on Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey, European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and input from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents.
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Marie Hyland
Research officerMarie Hyland joined Eurofound as a research officer in the Social Policies unit in 2023. Her research focuses on issues related to housing, the social implications of the green transition and the socioeconomic situations of vulnerable groups. Prior to joining Eurofound, Marie spent several years as an economist at the World Bank, where her research covered women’s employment and economic empowerment, private sector development and the economics of climate change. Marie holds a PhD in Economics from Trinity College Dublin. During her PhD studies, she was a visiting Fulbright scholar at the University of Maryland.
Sanna Nivakoski
Research officerSanna Nivakoski is a research officer in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. Before joining Eurofound in 2021, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at University College Dublin's Geary Institute for Public Policy, the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She has worked in many research areas in microeconomics, including retirement income and wealth, pension saving, intergenerational transfers and the financial impact of widowhood. Sanna holds a PhD in Economics from Trinity College Dublin.
Hans Dubois
Senior research managerHans Dubois is a senior research manager in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. His research topics include housing, over-indebtedness, healthcare, long-term care, social benefits, retirement, and quality of life in the local area. Prior to joining Eurofound, he was Assistant Professor at Kozminski University (Warsaw). He completed a PhD in Business Administration and Management at Bocconi University (Milan), after working as a research officer at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (Madrid).
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