No one should be without a home in Europe. Yet growing numbers of migrants and EU mobile citizens face homelessness and exclusion.
Cities are urging the EU to stand with them, safeguarding funding, empowering local action, and building a Union where everyone can belong.
Rising homelessness across European cities
Homelessness is increasing sharply in European cities, disproportionately affecting migrants and undocumented people.
Cities are intensifying their efforts to address this issue. Barcelona invests €45 million in housing, converting shelters into dignified small-unit accommodations and providing specialised services for women and youth. Bilbao has seen homelessness triple among some population groups, and deploys outreach teams offering mental health and NGO-led support. Vilnius highlights coordination gaps but is launching a ‘Housing First’ programme to improve healthcare and housing access. Lyon’s ‘Building Bridges’ consortium demonstrates the importance of coordination between municipalities, service providers, and national authorities.
Access to such services is often linked to an individual’s residence status. This is why, on the European level, the European Commission should promote integrated, rights-based approaches to homelessness, specifically targeting migrants and EU mobile citizens. This includes supporting coordination frameworks across local, national, and EU levels, increasing funding for local housing programmes like ‘Housing First,’ and easing residency requirements to secure access to social rights.
Cities at the forefront
European cities are tackling growing social challenges exacerbated by rising homelessness, migration, and economic pressures. “We all know that integration and social inclusion happen locally,” says Rutger Groot Wassink, Eurocities Shadow Commissioner for Welcoming Cities and Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam. “It’s on the ground, in our cities, where policies truly become reality.”
However, administrative complexity and limited direct access to EU funding restrict their ability to implement effective programmes. The upcoming 2028–2034 EU budget must increase funding for migrant integration and social inclusion.
The next Multiannual Financial Framework, including an urban chapter and allocations for cities within national and regional integration programmes. Sustained local investment in reception and integration must also be ensured.
Within the new ESF+, the Commission should earmark funds for local migrant integration. The renewed AMIF should provide targeted funding for cities to meet immediate integration needs, and national authorities should cooperate closely with local governments in designing and implementing integration plans.
Safeguarding access to services for vulnerable people
Local authorities often operate within centralised national systems with limited access to EU and national funding, constraining their capacity to deliver inclusive services.
Athens relies heavily on NGOs and UNHCR due to centralised governance and limited local capacity, particularly following funding cuts. Leipzig faces legal and structural barriers in providing healthcare and social support to undocumented migrants. Berlin funds around 150 migrant-led initiatives promoting integration and skills recognition, but continues to face challenges in housing and labour market access for non-German speakers.
Delivering the message to European Commissioner Brunner
In summary, the European Commission should establish robust multi-level governance frameworks that give cities a structured and decisive role in shaping and implementing EU migration and integration policies.
This should include direct and simplified access to EU funding, systematic consultation of local authorities in programming and monitoring national and regional partnership plans in the next MFF, and embedding a dedicated urban dimension and integration focus in both the forthcoming EU Migration Strategy and the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
Eurocities Shadow Commissioners for Welcoming Cities, Simona Bieliūnė (Deputy Mayor of Vilnius) and Rutger Groot Wassink (Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam), alongside Eurocities Shadow Commissioner for Gender Equality Yves Pascouau (Deputy Mayor of Nantes), met with European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner to discuss these recommendations.
“We discussed how the [European] Commission can and should learn from the experience of cities, what works and what doesn’t,” says Groot Wassink.
Ensuring access to healthcare, housing, education, and employment for all requires recognising cities as equal partners in shaping EU migration and social policy. True multi-level governance must go beyond consultation: cities should be formally involved in the design, funding, and implementation of EU and national integration policies.
