40 Amendments of Phil BENNION related to 2012/2293(INI)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 37 a (new)
Citation 37 a (new)
- having regard to the Commission Decision of 20 December 2011 on the application of Article 106(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to State aid in the form of public service compensation granted to certain undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest2, __________________ 2 OJ L 7/3, 11.01.2012.
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas access to housing is a fundamental right that affects access to other fundamental rights and to a life in conditions of human dignity; and whereas guaranteeing access to decent housing is an international obligation incumbent on the Member States, to which the Union must have regard, given that the right of access to housing and to housing assistance is recognised in Article 34 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Articles 30 and 31 of the revised European Social Charter adopted by the Council of Europe and Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, as well as in many Member State constitutions;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas national, regional and local authorities in the Member States have a duty to take the steps required to give effect to this fundamental right on their housing markets, with the aim of providing universal access to decent, affordable housing;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas housing is a basic necessity in respect of which Member States lay down, in line with their own policy choices, minimum standards of habitability and comfort, specific urban planning and construction rules and maximum income percentages, with some regulating house price increases and even establishing mechanisms for providing social assistance or tax support to help out with what is a leading item of household expenditure;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas, in view of the severe economic and social difficulties currently being experienced, urgent action on the part of Member States and the Union is required in order to guarantee access to decent and affordable housing; whereas, given that housing is the largest household expenditure item in Europe, the sharp rise in housing-related prices (land prices, purchase and rental prices and energy prices) is a cause of instability and anxiety, and must be seen as a major concern; whereas, given that unemployment has also shot up in the EU, as is illustrated by the fact that the average rate for the EU 27 rose above 10% in January 2012, there is a major risk of growing social inequality and social exclusion, with 80 million Europeans already at risk of poverty;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas social housing plays a key part in the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy in that it helps to ensure high levels of employment, inclusion and social cohesion, to promote job mobility and to combat climate change by modernising the housing stock;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas homelessness is a complex issue with a variety of contributory socio- economic factors and manifests itself in a diversity of ways across the EU; having regard to the ETHOS1 typology for defining and understanding homelessness; __________________ 1 http://www.feantsa.org/IMG/pdf/en.pdf
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the economic and social crisis is having a direct adverse impact on activity in and financial support for the house building and refurbishment sector, with social housing being hit particularly hard, owing to the bursting of housing bubbles, the contraction of credit, late payments and a fall in new public-sector orders; whereas the construction sector can be a driving force in efforts to find a sustainable, inclusive way out of the crisis and to address climate- and energy- related challenges;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Reminds the Member States and the Commission that spending on social and affordable housing enables urgent social needs to be met and, as strategic social investment, helps in a sustainable way to provide non- relocatsustainable local jobs, to stabilise the economy by preventingducing the risk of property bubbles, to counter climate change and to combat energy poverty; calls on Member States and the Commission to bring social housing investment within the scheme of the European Semester by including in it an evaluation of targets for combating and preventing property bubbles;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4d. Calls on the Council to convene a meeting of the housing ministers of the Member States at least once a year to discuss the impact of various EU policies on housing policy and ensure that the economic, social and environmental aspects of the housing sector are mainstreamed more efficiently at EU level, with the involvement of stakeholders such as social housing bodies, associations representing occupants and associations seeking to facilitate access to housing;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to give greater importance to housing and related services under the Social Protection and Social Inclusion Strategy and through measures to alleviate homelessness and reduce housing exclusion on the basis of joint national indicators and encourage exchanges of good practice in effectively implementing the right to housing;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Notes that this green sector can provide a plurality of different employment opportunities ranging from entry level and less skilled jobs to highly skilled knowledge sector employment; notes the role of SMEs in providing such employment in the green economy; highlights the potential for such SMEs offer in work training, apprenticeships and local outreach schemes, which can provide employment opportunities to socially disadvantaged individuals;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Advocates making priority investment in heat efficiency and in the use of renewables in social and affordable housing, as well as integrated projects for sustainable urban development, access to housing for marginalised communities and the promotion of social enterprises, eligible for Structural Fund support in the 2014- 2020 budgetary period;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Encourages Member States and all the relevant bodies to give social housing investmentinvestment in social and affordable housing a prominent place in national reform programmes and in the shaping of strategic priorities under partnership agreements for the period 2014-2020;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on Member States to encourage recourse to Horizon 2020 grants and the use of financial instruments and project- development assistance programmes offered by the Structural Funds, the EIB, the EBRD and the Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe (FEEE) to stimulate the construction and renovation of social and affordable housing to a high standard;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Calls on the EIB to place greater emphasis on the social and affordable housing sector when setting its investment priorities, in particular in those Member States which do not have a public housing bank, whilst relaxing the terms under which it grants loans, and to determine the scope for using project bonds as an instrument to finance social infrastructure, such as housing;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Asks the Commission to make other potential sources of financing available to Member Statesencourage Member States and regional and local authorities to make effective use of available European funding for the development and renovation of their affordable and social housing stock as forms of social investment, and to retain the reduced rates of VAT that apply to such investment, given the labour-intensive nature of the sector and its very limited impact on cross-border trade within the EU;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls for the implementation of integrated cooperation models which bring together project managers, social housing providers and construction firms in order to promote the thermal renovation of social housing and the construction of low-energy social housing;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Welcomes the Commission communication of 31 July 2012 (COM(2012)0433) on a strategy for the sustainable competitiveness of the construction sector and its enterprises; takes the view that, in addition to tax incentives and financial support to boost the competitiveness of and innovation in this sector, measures to improve workforce skill levels are essential if we are to meet the challenges linked to the creation of a resource-efficient Europe and a low-carbon economy and achieve the objectives set in the directives on energy efficiency (2012/27)1 and on the energy performance of buildings (2010/31)2; __________________ 1 OJ L315, 14.11.2012. 2 OJ L153, 18.6.2010.
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Highlights the importance of promoting innovation and exchange of best practice in the effective implementation of the right to housing for particularly vulnerable and excluded groups, the homeless and those furthest from the labour market; calls on the Commission to include such activities within the Social Investment Package;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Calls on the Commission and the Eurofound Agency to carry out a study in 2014, as part of the agency’s 2014 programme of work, into the cost of failing to do anything about poor-quality housing;
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 – indent 2 a (new)
Paragraph 16 – indent 2 a (new)
- Ensuring that social housing acts as an effective transitional device leading to a stable long term or permanent housing outcome,
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 – indent 3
Paragraph 16 – indent 3
– steps to address the difficulties commonly encountered by highly vulnerable sections of the population, such as migrants and young peopleyoung people, the homeless, migrants, the disabled, and those with physical or psychiatric illnesses, in seeking access to decent housing,
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 – indent 4
Paragraph 16 – indent 4
– implementation of effective policies to stop tenants being evicted, on the basis that coveringearly intervention policies to avoid the occurrence of situations which could result in tenants being evicted, or rents not being paid to housing associations or owners, on the basis that preventing missed rent payments and arrears of rent is a less costly option for the relevant authorities,
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 – indent 5 a (new)
Paragraph 16 – indent 5 a (new)
- providing relevant training to actors within the social housing and related sectors, in order to be able to provide effective needs based assessment of, and support for, those with higher chances of losing housing through social disadvantages they may face, particularly with regard to accessing community based healthcare and social support services,
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Calls for the implementation of integrated cooperation models which bring together social and health services, support services for disadvantaged persons, social housing providers and relevant associations as part of their efforts to help vulnerable persons who are looking for accommodation and those already in accommodation;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 c (new)
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16c. Calls on Member States to pursue housing policies which are based on the principle of neutrality between home ownership, private rented accommodation and social housing, taking specific local circumstances into account;
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 f (new)
Paragraph 16 f (new)
16f. Calls on Member States and local and regional authorities to implement effective incentive measures, on the basis of forecasts of housing needs, in order to combat the phenomenon of housing remaining unoccupied in the long term, particularly in problem areas, with a view to tackling property speculation and converting these properties into social housing;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Recommends that Member States and the relevant authorities take steps to improve access to affordable housing through increasing the amount and quality of social and affordable housing stock and developing its integration with community based care and social services, utilising ESF and other structural funds to achieve this outcome;
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Outlines that social housing should, when coordinated with effective community based care and other social services, help to develop personal independent living capacity, assisting the socially vulnerable or disadvantaged to make the transition to a more independent lifestyle, with less reliance on welfare and greater personal autonomy;
Amendment 288 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Regards the Union’s commitment to integrated sustainable urban development, in particular to social housing, as an effective means of better integrating problem areas into the surrounding urban environment and of tackling poverty and social exclusion; calls, therefore, on Member States and the relevant authorities to make greater use of structural funding in an integrated way (ERDF, ESF), and of the EIB and other financial solutions, and to facilitate coordination and synergies between them; takes the view that giving residents an appropriate role and greater decision-making powers prior to and during the social housing construction and renovation process helps boost integration and social cohesion;
Amendment 291 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Calls on the Commission to carry out a study into the effectiveness of social impact investment models in the social housing sector, by taking account of the potential benefits of the structural funds, used as financing instruments and possibly combined with other sources of funding, in order to boost social impact investments in fields such as local job creation in the green economy or for young people, and social inclusion through the provision of housing for marginalised groups;
Amendment 299 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to make sure that the deepening of the internal energy market goes hand in hand with measures to protect vulnerable consumers;
Amendment 309 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Notes the crucial role of energy efficiency and avoiding fuel poverty, as part of the overall affordability of housing both in the private and public sector; reiterates that affordability of all kinds of housing should be seen not only in terms of rent payments but also in terms of associated fuel bills which depend on the energy performance of the housing in question;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Points out that the housing sector is one of those which offers the greatest potential for energy savings; stresses that, in the medium and long term, provided that the costs of making housing more energy efficient do not outweigh the energy savings made, energy efficiency measures may increase households' purchasing power and improve their quality of life; emphasises that these measures will also lead to a reduction in carbon emissions, create jobs, support the local economy and reduce healthcare expenditure;
Amendment 314 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Highlights the potential benefits in particular of schemes to subsidise the installation of energy efficiency and renewable micro-energy generation within social housing units, with the benefits of savings in fuel bills and, the profits of energy generated being fairly distributed between tenants and the housing association or owner in order to deliver lower bills to the tenant and to fund further renovation and improvements in the overall housing stock by the owners;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Believes that energy efficiency measures to tackle energy poverty can also help to prevent health problems (respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, allergies, asthma, food or carbon monoxide poisoning, and impact on mental health);
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Reiterates the importance of programs aimed at improving energy performance to increase the affordability of social housing and housing in the private sector; emphasises the need for the Commission to clarify the State aid guidelines with regard to national and EU funds for such renovations and investments, and to allow flexibility wherever possible to ensure that such investments by housing associations and private owners can benefit from the most appropriate funding streams in order to achieve this dual social and environmental objective without breaching EU competition rules;
Amendment 318 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Stresses that energy providers have a role to play in terms of dispute prevention and settlement, in particular by installing smart meters, establishing customer service departments, and improving price transparency;
Amendment 319 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 e (new)
Paragraph 20 e (new)
20e. Calls on Member States to use information campaigns to make sure that households are better informed about the importance of more responsible resource consumption and about the grants for which they are eligible under relevant social support measures, and to launch training campaigns to make social service professionals in particular more aware of energy poverty issues;