41 Amendments of Elżbieta RAFALSKA related to 2019/2187(INI)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
- having regard to the New Urban Agenda adopted in October 2016 at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), held every 20 years,
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas, in the hierarchy of human needs, housing provides space for life, thereby allowing other fundamental and higher needs to be fulfilled;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas, in 2018, 17.1% of EU inhabitants lived in overcrowded dwellings1a; __________________ 1a https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics- explained/index.php?title=Housing_statist ics
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas, in 2018, house prices had risen in almost every Member State compared to 2015; whereas over the past three years EU house prices have risen by an average of 5%;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas the EU’s housing stock is growing systematically, yet the shortage of housing remains a significant problem;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Ec. whereas the increase in completed housing projects does not significantly improve access to housing for those whose income is too low to enable them to afford market rents, and too high to make them eligible for social housing; whereas this problem particularly affects those bringing up children alone, those with large families and young people entering the labour market;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E d (new)
Recital E d (new)
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E e (new)
Recital E e (new)
Ee. whereas 10.3% of people in the EU are overburdened by housing costs1c; __________________ 1c https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/s how.do?dataset=ilc_lvho07a〈=en.
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas rural areas have suffered from underinvestment in access to sanitation and other basic utilities, including mains water, gas, central heating, and broadband internet;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas in more than half of EU Member States there are now over 500 dwellings per 1 000 inhabitants; whereas this figure is highest in countries that are tourist destinations, where holiday homes built for high-season holiday use in tourist hotspots do not help meet the wider society’s housing needs1d; __________________ 1d https://www.oecd.org/els/family/HM1-1- Housing-stock-and-construction.pdf.
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F c (new)
Recital F c (new)
Fc. whereas the EU-wide housing deprivation rate, comprising the proportion of the population living in substandard dwellings, is 17.7%1e; __________________ 1e https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do ?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode =tessi291&plugin=1.
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F d (new)
Recital F d (new)
Fd. whereas societies are ageing and undergoing demographic change; whereas housing needs change with age in line with changes in lifestyle or family situation; whereas barriers to housing include inaccessibility, loneliness, safety concerns and maintenance costs;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F e (new)
Recital F e (new)
Fe. whereas dwellings should be safe, comfortable and easy to maintain, all of which are particularly important for older people;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas the 2008 economic crisis made an exceptionally large contribution to changing attitudes to state involvement in house-building, and construction of social housing became a major part of European economies;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
Recital G b (new)
Gb. whereas the number of rented dwellings is growing; whereas many tenants believe that landlords do not take proper care of their rental properties;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G c (new)
Recital G c (new)
Gc. whereas over two thirds of the global population will be living in cities by 20301f; __________________ 1f https://www.un.org/en/events/citiesday/ass ets/pdf/the_worlds_cities_in_2018_data_b ooklet.pdf.
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G d (new)
Recital G d (new)
Gd. whereas urban populations are growing, as is demand for smaller dwellings as the number of households without children increases;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G e (new)
Recital G e (new)
Ge. whereas, according to the World Green Building Trends 2016 report, the number of green and environmentally- friendly buildings is doubling globally every three years;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G f (new)
Recital G f (new)
Gf. whereas the results of the report on global research into biophilic design note that the highest rates of wellbeing are associated with natural light (44%), indoor plants (20%) and bright colours (15%); whereas, in offices that incorporated these design elements, workers’ wellbeing rose by 15%, productivity by 6% and creativity by 15%1g; __________________ 1gThe Global Impact of Biophilic Design in the Workplace, 2016.
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G g (new)
Recital G g (new)
Gg. whereas the energy efficiency of housing stock has a direct impact on energy poverty and the cost of maintenance; whereas those most affected by energy poverty are large or multigenerational families, farmers, inhabitants of rural areas, pensioners and those who live in houses;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure access for all to decent housing, including clean and high- quality drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene, and to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy, hence contributing to eradicating poverty in all its forms; reaffirms its call for EU- wide action for a winter heating disconnection moratorium;calls on the Member States to meet the standards laid down by the World Health Organization (WHO) for adequate housing temperature;demands that the revision of the air quality regulation be aligned with WHO standards;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to prioritise emissions reductMember States to reduce emissions through housing renovation in the social housing sector and for worst performing buildings in the Renovation Wave, while, while helping to tacklinge inadequate housing and housing accessibility and helping to eliminatinge energy poverty in order to ensure a socially just transition to a climate- neutral economy that leaves no one behind; stresses, therefore, that tenants and owner- occupiers should be fully informed and involved in renovation projects and should not see overall costs increase because of them;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to prioritise the Renovation Wave within the Multiannual Financial Framework and Next Generation EU, placing people in vulnerable situations at the centre of the recovery policies, and to ensure equal access to renovation projects for all; calls on the Member States to prioritise renovation in their recovery and resilience plans in order to contribute to achievinge deep renovation of 3% of the European building stock per year;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Member States to adapt buildings to meet the needs of older and disabled people, as well as those with motor and sensory difficulties; emphasises that a safe dwelling is one where safety risks have been minimised and the ease of responding to them has been maximised, should they arise; stresses that the heat, light, noise and smell levels in a dwelling should be comfortable for its inhabitants, and that buildings should include accessibility features such as lifts, ramps, wide corridors and doorways, non-slip flooring, and appropriate stairs with handrails; underscores that the fixtures in a dwelling should not pose a direct safety risk if used incorrectly;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Calls on the Member States to promote programmes and incentives for families to live close to one another, to strengthen intergenerational ties and to enable older people who have to leave their homes for financial or health reasons to find new accommodation that meets their needs without having to leave the communities they were part of for many years;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Calls on the Member States to fight energy poverty effectively, increasing energy efficiency by insulating buildings and conducting energy saving campaigns;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for an EU-level goal of ending homelessness by 2030; calls on the Commission to take stronger action to support Member States in reducing and eradicating homelessness as a priority in the context of the action plan on the EPSR; calls on the CommissionMember States to propose an EU framework ford implement national homelessness strategies; calls on the Member States to prioritise the provision of permanent housing to homeless people; stresses the importance of reliable data collection on homelessness, in cooperation with NGOs that provide assistance in this area (e.g. through the FEAD programme), taking into account the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for a comprehensive and integrated anti-poverty strategy with a designated poverty reduction target, including for child poverty; calls for a European framework for minimum income schemes;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to ensure equal access to housing for all and safeguard non-discrimination on all grounds stipulated in Article 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the implementation of the Charter as well as of the Racial Equality Directive; calls on the Council to swiftly adopt the horizontal anti-discrimination directive; calls on the Commission to launch infringement procedures against Member States which do not enforce EU anti-discrimination legislation or which criminalise the homeless;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes with deep concern that the living conditions of Roma continue to be extremely worryingdifficult; calls on the Member States to promote spatial desegregation and engage Roma beneficiaries in housing projects, to prevent forced evictions, and to provide halting sites for non-sedentary Roma; emphasises the urgent need for public investment in this regard;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recalls that EU policies, funding programmes and financing instruments have a great impact on housing markets and citizens’ lives; calls on the Commission to develop an integratedencourages the Member States to develop national strategyies for social, public and affordable housing at EU level to ensure the provision of safe, accessible and affordable quality housing for all;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Welcomes the inclusion of housing affordability in the European Semester; urges the Commission to ensure that all country-specific recommendations contribute positively to the implementation of the principles of the EPSR; stresses the need to modify house price indicators and to set the inclusion threshold for housing cost overburden at no more than 25% of a household’s gross domestic income;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Urges the Commission to provide more accurate data on housing markets, including at subnatlocal or regional level, through Eurostat (European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU- SILC));
Amendment 284 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Member States and regional and local authorities to put in place legal provisions to protect tenants and owner-occupiers from eviction and to ensure security of tenure by favouring long-term rental contracts as the default option, together with rent transparency and rent control measures;
Amendment 294 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the Member States to be more active in correcting housing market inequalities, including by providing comprehensive information on the functioning of housing markets, the number and geographical distribution of transactions, price trends in specific market segments, and the potential for development in other specific segments;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Calls on the Member States to set up initiatives and incentives that make it easier for young people to access housing, such as credit incentives or renting with the right to buy;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. Calls on the Member States to develop their house-building policies, which will boost economic growth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14d. Emphasises that sheltered and supported housing are instruments of social and housing policy, and that the support they provide is highly effective, e.g. in moving care from institutions to the community; calls on the Member States to take action to build more sheltered and supported housing;
Amendment 302 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes with concern the increased financialisation of the housing market, in particular in cities, whereby investors treat housing as a tradable asset rather than a human right; calls on the Commission to assess the contribution of EU policies and regulations to financialisation of the housing market and the ability of national and local authorities to ensure the right to housing and, where appropriate, to put forward legislative proposals to counter financialisation of the housing market by mid-2021; calls on the Member States and local authorities to put in place taxation measures to counter speculative investment, and; calls on the Member States and local authorities to develop urban and rural planning policies that favour affordable housing, and social mix and social cohesioncohesion, and to adapt public spaces to the needs of older people, families with children, and disabled people;
Amendment 314 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Points out that the expansive growth of short-term holiday rental is extracting housing from the market and driving up prices, and has a negative impact on liveability; calls on the Commission to set up a regulatory framework for short-term accommodation rental that gives wide discretion to national and local authorities to define proportionate rules for hospitality services;urges the Commission to include in the Digital Services Act a proposal for mandatory information-sharing obligations for platforms in the short-term accommodation rental market, in line with data protection rules;
Amendment 329 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to close the investment gap for affordable housing as a matter of priority; calls in this regard for a reform of the Stability and Growth Pact allowing for increased fiscal space for sustainable public investments, in particular in affordable housing; calls, furthermore, for a harmonised accounting for amortisation methodology for affordable housing investments;