Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen joins EIB Group President Nadia Calviño to start laying the foundations of a pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing. This initiative underlines the importance of ensuring more affordable and sustainable housing in a productive economy.
At EIB Forum, EIB Group announced upcoming launch of the EIB Action Plan to support housing, which includes a new housing one-stop-shop portal to provide advice and finance to support innovation in the construction sector, build affordable homes and invest in energy efficiency and the renovation of housing stock across Europe. EIB plans investments of around €10 billion over next two years.
EIB Action Plan and one-stop shop portal are key building blocks of the pan-European investment platform that the European Commission and the EIB are working on and that are open to other players such as national promotional banks and international financial institutions.
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group are partnering with Europe’s national promotional banks (NPBs) and international financial institutions (IFIs) to develop new financing opportunities for affordable and sustainable housing across Europe. At the EIB Group Forum in Luxembourg today, EIB Group President Nadia Calviño and European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen underlined the importance of tackling one of the most pressing concerns of citizens and governments in the European Union. They advocated a pan-European push that brings together local and national, public and private actors to catalyse finance and urgent action under the Commission’s upcoming European Affordable Housing Plan.
Their call comes as the EIB Group completes work on an Action Plan for Affordable and Sustainable Housing with planned investments of around €10 billion over the next two years. The EIB Plan will support local and national efforts to build more affordable homes, renovate existing housing stock to be more energy efficient and encourage more sustainable and innovative building materials and equipment. The EIB also launched a housing portal, a one-stop shop to support final beneficiaries to access advice and finance. The EIB Group’s investment aims to deliver 1.5 million new or renovated housing units across Europe. The EIB Action Plan and the portal are key building blocks for the pan-European investment platform, which will be open to other players such as NPBs and IFIs. The Council of European Development Bank has also signalled its interest in participating.
Speaking at a special event on housing at the EIB Group’s annual Forum titled “Investing in a more Sustainable and Secure Europe”, President Nadia Calviño said: “Being able to afford a comfortable and warm home is a wish that unites every family and every community in Europe. Helping to make that possible for our citizens is a social responsibility and a fiscal challenge. It is also the foundation of any productive economy. That’s why we at the EIB Group and the European Commission are working full speed on a pan-European initiative that will be open for others to join.”
In his opening remarks at the EIB Group Forum, Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen said: “Ensuring more affordable and sustainable housing is a pressing issue. The Commission will enable Member States to increase cohesion funds for affordable housing and ensure our state-aid rules better support our goal of achieving more affordable housing. The EU is already mobilising substantial funding, for example via the Recovery and Resilience Facility But we will not stop there. Today we are kicking off the work with the EIB, national promotional banks and international financial institutions towards a pan-European investment platform to attract more public and private funding for housing. And, together with the European Parliament, we will consult intensively with Member States, cities, regions and all stakeholders to deliver the European Affordable Housing Plan.”
The lack of affordable housing in Europe, particularly in larger cities, is highlighted as an increasing concern in relation to Europe’s economic growth and productivity in the EIB Group’s investment survey based on feedback from around 13,000 European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The report, presented this week at the Forum, also notes low productivity and insufficient innovation in the European construction sector, adding to the cost and time of delivering housing projects. At the same time, the cost of energy and the impact of carbon-dioxide emissions are also a concern. Two-thirds of household energy consumption are used for heating homes and, with 46 million Europeans living in energy poverty, the energy efficiency of Europe’s housing stock is a key focus.
Working closely with the Commission and its new Task Force for Housing in the context of the European Affordable Housing Plan, as well as Member States, regions, cities and NPBs and IFIs, the EIB Group aims to raise the supply of affordable and sustainable housing in the EU. The approach rests on four pillars, which provide the general framework for the measures described further below:
Partnerships with the European Commission and NPBIs/IFIs for easier access to finance and advice, based on complementarity with existing structures and products.
EU-wide rollout: widening the regional scope of EIB Group support with an emphasis on EU countries with less mature housing systems and large unmet needs, where an enhanced advisory component will complement financing.
Value-chain approach: opening up to new types of housing projects – from innovation in construction to real-estate development to ownership, with policy safeguards.
Mobilisation of private sector: expansion of the client base to include private, for-profit promoters
In July 2024, the EIB Group’s newly established Housing Task Force organised a kick-off event featuring around 300 public and private stakeholders to discuss scaling up financial support for affordable and sustainable housing throughout the EU. The event was followed by technical meetings in the autumn with stakeholders to help shape a pan-European investment platform alongside the Commission.
Background information
The European Commission is already active on housing, with support through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Cohesion Policy Funds, InvestEU, LIFE and Horizon Europe, among others.
As outlined in the mission letter of Commissioner Jørgensen, the Commission will publish its first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan. The plan will offer technical assistance to cities and Member States and focus on investment and skills needed. The Commission will in particular develop a European Strategy for Housing Construction to support housing supply, establish a pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing, conduct an analysis of the impact of housing speculation, support Member States to double the planned cohesion policy investments in affordable housing, tackle systemic issues with short-term accommodation rentals and make proposals to tackle the inefficient use of the current housing stock and revise state-aid rules to enable housing support measures, notably for energy efficiency and social housing.
Background information
The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight core priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, the capital markets union, and a stronger Europe in a more peaceful and prosperous world.
The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security.
All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Almost 60% of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.
Fostering market integration and mobilising investment, the Group supported a record of over €100 billion in new investment for Europe’s energy security in 2024 and mobilised €110 billion in growth capital for startups, scale-ups and European pioneers. Approximately half of the EIB’s financing within the European Union is directed towards cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower than the EU average.
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