WRITTEN QUESTION No. 532/98 by Concepció FERRER to the Commission. Social housing
Date: 1998-03-02
Institutions: European Parliament, FERRER
Subjects: building industry, competence of the Member States, employment policy, homelessness, housing need, housing policy, ministerial meeting, poverty, social policy, subsidised housing

C 323/46

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

21. 10. 98

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-0525/98 and E-0527/98
given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(7 April 1998)

Directive 93/109/EC of 6 December 1993 has been transposed by all the Member States and was applied at the
time  of  the  June  1994  elections.  Sweden,  Austria  and  Finland  applied  it  on  the  occasion  of  the  first
European Parliament elections held in their countries in 1995 and 1996.

The Honourable Member is asked to refer to the Commission report of 7 January 1998 to Parliament and the
Council on the application of the Directive on voting rights of EU citizens living in a Member State of which they
are not nationals in European Parliament elections (1).

(1)  COM(97) 731 final.

(98/C 323/62)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0532/98

by Concepcio· Ferrer (PPE) to the Commission

(2 March 1998)

Subject: Social housing

The Commission(cid:146)s White Paper on social policy explicitly mentions housing as a key area in combating social
exclusion and as an important source of new jobs.

What  initiatives  are  currently  being  taken  to  promote  social  housing?  How  much  money  does  the  European
Union  allocate  for  this  purpose?  Does  the  Commission  intend  to  take  measures  under  the  ERDF  to  promote
social housing or include it under any other existing programme?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission

(15 May 1998)

Housing policy remains within the competence of the Member States. The Commission at present is confined to
supporting only very limited activities such as comparative research studies on housing issues.

All the Member States recognised a common right to adequate housing by ratification of the 1966 United Nations
international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights.

At their latest informal meeting, held in Amsterdam on September 24, 1997, housing ministers aimed to identify
housing issues of common interest for future discussions. They agreed that the special subject for discussion at
the next informal meeting will be (cid:145)the impact of housing construction, housing renovation and modernisation on
employment(cid:146).

Housing is also a factor to consider in the strategies against social exclusion. In this context, the Commission
supports activities carried out by Feantsa, the European federation of the national associations working with the
homeless. Its 1997/1998 programme relates to the role and impact of supported housing in the reintegration and
the exclusion process.

For the period 2000-2006, although not specifically financing housing actions through the structural funds, the
Commission is nonetheless proposing that (cid:145)a high level of poverty, including poor housing conditions(cid:146) should be
amongst the criteria for the selection of urban areas under objective 2 in future. As proposed regions covered by
objective  2  would  deal  with  economic  and  social  conversion,  should  have  four  types  (industrial  including
services, urban, rural and fisheries areas).