Cities back European Affordable Housing Act, but need more powers to protect neighbourhoods

11 September 2026

Europe’s city leaders have welcomed the EU’s first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan, particularly its objectives to promote affordable housing, increase housing supply, tackle speculative investment, and recognise the role of public authorities in addressing housing stress.

However, they have warned that – without improvement to the current proposal – some provisions could restrict their ability to respond to local housing pressures and the wider impact of short-term rentals on neighbourhoods.

The Affordable Housing Plan, published by the European Commission on 9 September, acknowledges the lack of housing affordability in European cities. It recognises that cities, which have been at the forefront of Europe’s housing crisis, face growing pressures on housing affordability, availability and the liveability of neighbourhoods.

“Housing is the first source of social inequality in Europe,” states Jaume Collboni, Mayor of Barcelona. “We are grateful for the leading role that cities have played throughout the whole drafting process [of the Plan], for instance proposing the adoption of areas under housing stress as the cornerstone of the Regulation.”

“However, we are concerned that some provisions could limit cities’ ability to respond to the local impacts of short-term rentals, including where decisions on housing-stress areas rest with regional or national authorities,” states Mathias De Clercq, Mayor of Ghent and President of Eurocities.

For cities, the impact of short-term tourist rentals continues to be a major challenge, affecting not only housing availability and affordability, but also the wider urban environment. Issues have included anti-social behaviour, pressure on local services and infrastructure, and changes to the character and functioning of residential neighbourhoods.

Cities call for the final version of the Affordable Housing Act to:

Maintain the liveability of cities and protecting the urban fabric to be recognised as legitimate objectives for regulating short-term rentals, alongside addressing housing pressures.
Retain local authorities right to regulate short-term rentals in primary residences where local circumstances justify such measures.
Give cities the ability to identify and act upon housing markets that are considered under stress
Carry out the effective implementation and enforcement of the obligations already placed on short-term rental platforms under EU law.

Recognising the proposal in the Affordable Housing Act as an important first step for millions of EU citizens, Michael Ludwig, Mayor of Vienna, states: “We appreciate that European policymakers have become active in the field of social and affordable housing and suggest to create a framework for cities to restrict short term rentals. It is now up to the EU legislators to ensure that it can work in practice, based on the right evidence and with greater legal certainty.”

Eurocities will continue to work with the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission to improve the proposal. We look forward to ensuring that the final Affordable Housing Act provides cities with an effective framework to protect housing affordability, residential use and the urban environment of European cities.

ENDS//

Notes to editors:

1. View the Mayors for Housing Alliance Action Plan, an alliance of 15 mayors from large European cities calling on the EU to take bold and immediate steps to address Europe’s spiralling housing crisis.
2. Read Eurocities report – Cities addressing the housing crisis: Innovative and integrated approaches – which draws on the experiences of 20 European cities, to highlight effective strategies to expand social and affordable housing, including governance models, financing tools, land-use policies, and urban regeneration initiatives.
3. Eurocities wants to make cities places where everyone can enjoy a good quality of life, is able to move around safely, access quality and inclusive public services and benefit from a healthy environment. We do this by networking more than 200 larger European cities, which together represent some 150 million people across 38 countries, and by gathering evidence of how policy making impacts on people to inspire other cities and EU decision makers. Connect with us at https://eurocities.eu/ or by following our LinkedIn, Instagram, BlueSky and YouTube