High-level conference on affordable and sustainable housing
A high-level conference, organised by the Danish EU Presidency, gathered experts, Member States, EU bodies and civil society to address affordable, sustainable housing. Eurofound’s Marie Hyland presented findings on defining and measuring affordability.
29 September 2025 - 30 September 2025
Start
10:00
End
11:00
Event background
Organised by the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, this high-level conference brought together experts and representatives from the Member States, the EU institutions, municipalities, regions, organisations and civil society. The participants discussed the challenges of ensuring affordable and sustainable housing across Europe. They also shared best practices and initiatives that can work as tools to deliver concrete solutions. Marie Hyland, Research officer Eurofound drafted the background paper for the conference, and presented its findings in a session entitled ‘What is affordable housing: Discussion of approaches to measurement and highlighting the challenges faced by different groups’. See Related content below.
Agenda
Eurofound participants
Marie Hyland
Research officerMarie Hyland a rejoint Eurofound en tant qu’chargée de recherche au sein de l’unité Politiques sociales en 2023. Auparavant, Marie a passé plusieurs années en tant qu’économiste à la Banque mondiale, où elle a travaillé sur un éventail de questions, notamment le genre, le changement climatique et le développement du secteur privé. Les recherches de Marie ont porté sur l’impact de la discrimination juridique sur l’autonomisation économique des femmes, sur le rôle de la taille de l’entreprise et des pratiques de gestion sur la productivité et le développement économique, et sur l’économie des politiques d’atténuation des changements climatiques. Marie est titulaire d’un doctorat en économie du Trinity College de Dublin.
Related content
1 October 2025
Housing affordability: Approaches to measurement and key data insights – Background paper
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.
3 June 2024
European Child Guarantee monitor
1 October 2025
Housing affordability: Approaches to measurement and key data insights – Background paper
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.
3 June 2024
European Child Guarantee monitor
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