European Commission
🏠 Housing is a right, not a privilege. 
  
Yet affordable, quality homes are out of reach for too many across Europe - especially young people, families, and vulnerable groups. 
  
The EU is acting with its Affordable Housing Plan: tackling structural barriers, boosting supply, and unlocking investment.  
  
️🗣️ Have your say.  
A public consultation is open until 17 October. 
  
Ready to shape the future of housing in Europe?  
→ https://europa.eu/!6fHwB3
Jul 26 at 7:30amWeb
Show threadsuper_user_doJul 26
@EUCommission maybe we should invest more in public housing
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26
@super_user_do @EUCommission +1
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114919468387515003
Kevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)

@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu how about listening to valid #criticism from tennants? I mean, @earthworm@kolektiva.social has listed [some issues](https://kolektiva.social/@earthworm/114919446247986369) and instead if doing #Neoliberalism how about #Keynesianism, and dismantling large #RealEstate #conglomerates like #VONOVIA and instead mandating #Housing that is maintained not.for self-use to be put into #cooperatives for #sustainability reasons? - Cuz the #EU could force that change and it would actually help!

Infosec.Space
Show threadNfoonfJul 26
@EUCommission lol. I would appreciate if your actions would follow your words.
Show threadMelody Jul 26
@EUCommission maybe we should copy what the Swedes have going with housing
Show threadJockeJul 26

@mstar @EUCommission Ah, like having negative interest rates for a decade so that every house owner see their house increase in value by I don't even know how much while every non-house owner see their dream of getting their own house fade more and more for each year? And afterwards you can't do anything about it because no house owner will ever accept seeing their house decrease in value.

Nah. Don't copy us.

Show threadPeter K.Jul 26
@mstar What's good about what we have in Sweden?
Show threadMelody Jul 26
@vagnretur I remember something about the social housing system. Asked a friend I got that from to double check
Show threadhaui Jul 26

@EUCommission If you believed a word you're saying, we all would be living in a socialist country by now.

You all well know that food, water, housing, healthcare, electricity and transport need to be free for everyone. Yet you boast but never act.

IMPLEMENT SOCIALISM AND STOP KILLING PEOPLE THROUGH HUNGER AND COLD!

Show threadDavid BurešJul 26
@haui @EUCommission Sure, free food, water, housing, healthcare, electricity and guaranteed employment is possible… but did you consider that it would make 100 very rich psychopaths extremely sad? Therefore, it’s not happening, and it won’t happen until they’re removed
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26

@davidbures @haui @EUCommission and that removal can be arranged…

The #EU could just ban #Landlords and mandate #Housing to be maintained sustainably.and not for profit!
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114919468387515003

Kevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)

@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu how about listening to valid #criticism from tennants? I mean, @earthworm@kolektiva.social has listed [some issues](https://kolektiva.social/@earthworm/114919446247986369) and instead if doing #Neoliberalism how about #Keynesianism, and dismantling large #RealEstate #conglomerates like #VONOVIA and instead mandating #Housing that is maintained not.for self-use to be put into #cooperatives for #sustainability reasons? - Cuz the #EU could force that change and it would actually help!

Infosec.Space
Show threadDavid BurešJul 26

@kkarhan @haui @EUCommission The EU is fundamentally a neoliberal project that benefits the big western players. The current state of housing is another part of this system (here in the Czech Republic, housing was bought up by western landowners for bargain bin prices, and now nobody can afford to even rent, much less buy a house).

I support the idea of European integration, but it has to take form of a socialist project. Not whatever the current form is.

Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26

@davidbures @haui @EUCommission nodds in agreement

#Housing should be highly regulated like any #infrastructure that is inherently a natural monopoly…

Show threadTottsJul 26

@davidbures @kkarhan @haui @EUCommission

British woman here, voted to remain

There are many who would read that and be mighty cross as they hold the EU as some sort of sacrosanct entity that can do no wrong, inviolate and incapable of criticism. xx

Show thread🍻 Alexander 🇪🇺Jul 27
@davidbures @kkarhan @haui @EUCommission
Whereas here in Britain, people were scared of that socialist direction. Hence the Tory party calling the referendum.
Show threadhaui Jul 27

@MostlyHarmless

This is only how it was sold by the brexit folks. The EU - as the other person said - is not particularly socialist. The EU takes the direction of its member states. With the backwards, neoliberal germany pretty much in the driver seat, it will continue in the direction of the USA with dysfunctional lip service social actions and brutal fully working anti social and pro capital actions. Its pretty obvious if you read marx.

Show thread🍻 Alexander 🇪🇺Jul 27

@haui

For sure!

# Brexit was also much more nuanced, with a large racist component, encouraged by right-wing tabloids.

The EU's lack of control over migration, and in particular its failure to enforce rules requiring asylum seekers to register in the first EU country they enter, rather than attempting to cross the entire EU to register in the UK, also contributed to the issue.

Show threadhaui Jul 27

@MostlyHarmless you're making a right wing point yourself. Are you aware of that?

Who cares about where someone "registers"? Why would that be important at all? The mere idea of people having to "register" for asylum is nazi shit.

Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 27

@haui @MostlyHarmless IMHO humans should have #FreedomOfMovement & #FreedomOfResidency, or do people still believe that folks go through all the pain and suffering just to get hated by racist dipshits for being forced to act as "#SchrödigersMigrant"?

  • The problem ain't #refugees seeking to start a new life, but #Banksters & #Billionaires that take 11 of the 12 cookies on the table and then tell people that those seeking shelter want "your" cookie.

People need to be fucking glad that many #migrants are willing to take on the "#shitjobs" the natives don't want to do but need to get done.

Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 27

@haui @MostlyHarmless For those that don't know how big the disparity is:

  • #Bezos' marriage was a $70M flexing

but when you put that into context with his wealth, it's less financial financial burden to him than

  • for the average wageworker to get the cheapest takeaway food for two (i.e. a €4,99 promo menu with a small burger, fries & cola or a small döner)…

$70M is already so much money that it'll allow a family of 4 to not do any wagework for their entire life, assuming the couple is just 21 and they have newborn twins, yet still consume without worries and we assume all of them will get 128 years old.

Show threadENIGMATICO  Jul 26
@EUCommission Anything but tackling the real estate speculation bubble and the monetary barrier that supposses accessing a house.

If a house costed 30k€ to be built in the 70's, why do I have to pay 150k+€ now for it?
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26
@enigmatico @EUCommission also more importantly: Prioritize #cooperatives and self-use over #corporations!
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114919468387515003
Kevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)

@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu how about listening to valid #criticism from tennants? I mean, @earthworm@kolektiva.social has listed [some issues](https://kolektiva.social/@earthworm/114919446247986369) and instead if doing #Neoliberalism how about #Keynesianism, and dismantling large #RealEstate #conglomerates like #VONOVIA and instead mandating #Housing that is maintained not.for self-use to be put into #cooperatives for #sustainability reasons? - Cuz the #EU could force that change and it would actually help!

Infosec.Space
Show threadLazy B0yJul 26

@EUCommission

How many houses could have been built from the money the commission president threw out of the window for vaccines bought to irrational prices which were negotiated under secrecy, while the president keeps the public uninformed?

Show threadMarcoJul 26
@EUCommission EU parliament is based on a country that housing actually is a privilege. Your secretary general is fueling housing monopoly in his own country.
I suspect these posts are just a pointless showcase to believe you are doing better than other countries. You are not, words don't match actions.
Show threadDavid BurešJul 26
@EUCommission So that means investment housing and speculation will be banned immediately, right? Or is that a taboo because it would anger the rich sponsors and oligarchs that control the governments?
Show threadDavid BurešJul 26
@EUCommission I have filled out the survey with exactly what I think, and I urge everyone to do the same
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26
@davidbures @EUCommission +1
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114919468387515003
Kevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)

@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu how about listening to valid #criticism from tennants? I mean, @earthworm@kolektiva.social has listed [some issues](https://kolektiva.social/@earthworm/114919446247986369) and instead if doing #Neoliberalism how about #Keynesianism, and dismantling large #RealEstate #conglomerates like #VONOVIA and instead mandating #Housing that is maintained not.for self-use to be put into #cooperatives for #sustainability reasons? - Cuz the #EU could force that change and it would actually help!

Infosec.Space
Show threadCavallo PazzoJul 26
@EUCommission Maybe you didn't see a house from outside, I can help you with that.
Show threadBerlinFokusJul 26

@EUCommission

Have your say ? 🤔

I'll start right here:

The @EUCommission together with other #EU regulations regarding #subsidies is forbiding #communities to invest in #PublicHousing & is in #neoliberal fashion #DeRegulating the #HousingMarket which has been and is THE MAIN DRIVER of our European #HousingCrisis.

You took affordable housing away from us! (Long ago.)

It must feel so satisfying for you people to mock us now over this.

Cynical and evil.

🤮

Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26
@berlinfokus @EUCommission +9001%
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114919468387515003
Kevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)

@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu how about listening to valid #criticism from tennants? I mean, @earthworm@kolektiva.social has listed [some issues](https://kolektiva.social/@earthworm/114919446247986369) and instead if doing #Neoliberalism how about #Keynesianism, and dismantling large #RealEstate #conglomerates like #VONOVIA and instead mandating #Housing that is maintained not.for self-use to be put into #cooperatives for #sustainability reasons? - Cuz the #EU could force that change and it would actually help!

Infosec.Space
Show threadIarḟlaiṫJul 26
@EUCommission I was halfway through the survey and had to open a new browser tab to search for the details the survey asked for. When I came back, all my input was lost. In future, surveys should save progress. However, I’m sceptical of the current neoliberal, neocolonial mob in the EPP having any interest in this topic anyway.
Show threadFlo 🎃 besoin de changementJul 26
@EUCommission hahaha, si seulement ! c'est beau de rêver. Bah je sais pas moi, rendez l'encadrement des loyers obligatoire et indexez les sur les revenus moyens de personnes pauvres, rendez obligatoires les travaux de rénovation des passoires énergétiques... c'est pas si compliqué en fait.
Show threadTheresa (she, her)Jul 26
@EUCommission If housing is a right (and I agree that it is), then it must be free and open to everyone. There should never be an expectation that people must pay money in order to access their rights, and no one can be excluded from having a right simply because they're poor.
Show threadJohnsJul 26
@EUCommission There are two things here, why banks have si many apartments just empty and why vulture funds are allowed to roam freely.
Show threadAurelian DumanovschiJul 26
@EUCommission cool, so you'll ban housing real-estate as an investment, right? Right?
Show threadAngela ScholderJul 26
@EUCommission Yes, congrats on running a neoliberal market economy! It clearly works!
Show threadAngela ScholderJul 26
@EUCommission Yes, that was sarcasm!
Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkJul 26
@EUCommission I disagree. I don't think it's a right. I do think it's a sensible and frugal step in a society where no land is unowned, and only stupid and malicious societies would leave housing up to chance. But I don't think it's a right.
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26

@SomeVeganCheeseIsOk @EUCommission try to exist without a legal address...

  • It's literally illegal in most places!

Also the #UN says #Housing is a #HumanRight.

Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkJul 26
@kkarhan @EUCommission I don't think that you can have a human right that requires labor from others to provide. Ie, I don't see medical care as a human right, because it requires labor from others. I do think you have the right to seek medical care and denial of medical care is a violation of righs, and you have the right to seek housing and denial of housing is a violation of rights. And if housing is *not* provided, homelessness cannot be made criminal.
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26

@SomeVeganCheeseIsOk @EUCommission That's not how #HumanRights work, m8!

OFC things incur labour. But in a functioning society that gets rewarded beyond monetary compensation.

Or to put it in simple terms: Fed, housed, educated and healthy citizens don't want to nonconsensually 'redistribute wealth' in their own terms.

  • It's called "#SocialPeace" and many places seem to have forgotten that this is in the interest of the wealthy if they don't want a mob of disenfrancised people to change their pronouns to was/were nonverbally…
Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkJul 26

@kkarhan @EUCommission Human Rights are things that are intrinsic to you as a person. Just like responsibilities, they are choices you can make.

There are other rights besides Human Rights. Taxation is the right of any duely elected government which provides services all citizens and residents benefit from; but that government has responsibility to use those taxes frugally and to the benefit of all. Taxation is, ideally, a form of collective action.

Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkJul 26
@kkarhan @EUCommission Housing and legal address are not human rights in the sense that they would not apply to all humans throughout time. Human Rights are things like free speech, free assembly, free travel, freedom from assault, bodily autonomy, freedom to have any religion or non, freedom to pursue a life - so long as that pursuit doesn't harm others.
Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkJul 26
@kkarhan @EUCommission Natural resources required for survival are rights. Clean air, clean water, soil that's not poisoned.
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26
@SomeVeganCheeseIsOk @EUCommission So food and shelter ain't essential for survival?
Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkJul 26

@kkarhan That's not my argument. I can see exactly where you're coming from, but I don't think "the essentials for survival must be provided to you free of charge" is a human right.

I have the right to not be discriminated against in buying food. I have the right to obtain food. I have the right to obtain food which hasn't got microplastics or PFAS or sugar or metal shavings in it.

(Continued)

Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkJul 26

@kkarhan Nobody is on the hook to give me food for free. That's my problem to solve. Except for the fact that we have built a society in which it is not possible to produce your own food, and often not possible to get a job without housing.

The thing about making housing and food a human right is that it's situational: it's necessary to provide it *if* you have consumed all available space and people have no ability to provide for themselves through the fault of circumstances.

Show threadSomeVeganCheeseIsOkJul 26
@kkarhan @EUCommission The right to housing, the right to food, those are *compromises* we need to make because we have reached population saturation in many areas and our ability to strip-mine the world now exceeds the natural world's ability to survive our modifications.
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26

@SomeVeganCheeseIsOk @EUCommission that's literally some völkisch bs.

These #HumamRights ain't "compromises" but the very foundation of a just human society.

Show threadMWTJul 26
@EUCommission We have similar problems in New Zealand. The root cause of it all is that everyone has become accustomed to thinking that houses are investments. No. Houses are places to live. They are fundamentally tools for ... uh, housing. You should be able to buy one because you want to live in it, not because you want to "get on the property ladder." And nobody needs more than one.
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26
@mwt @EUCommission #Speculation with #RealEstate must be outlawed!
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114919468387515003
Kevin Karhan :verified: (@kkarhan@infosec.space)

@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu how about listening to valid #criticism from tennants? I mean, @earthworm@kolektiva.social has listed [some issues](https://kolektiva.social/@earthworm/114919446247986369) and instead if doing #Neoliberalism how about #Keynesianism, and dismantling large #RealEstate #conglomerates like #VONOVIA and instead mandating #Housing that is maintained not.for self-use to be put into #cooperatives for #sustainability reasons? - Cuz the #EU could force that change and it would actually help!

Infosec.Space
Show threadKevin Karhan Jul 26

@EUCommission how about listening to valid #criticism from tennants?

I mean, @earthworm has listed some issues and instead if doing #Neoliberalism how about #Keynesianism, and dismantling large #RealEstate #conglomerates like #VONOVIA and instead mandating #Housing that is maintained not.for self-use to be put into #cooperatives for #sustainability reasons?

  • Cuz the #EU could force that change and it would actually help!
Earthworm 🐌 (@earthworm@kolektiva.social)

Attached: 1 image Really missing the ability to quote-toot with a comment. There is just so much to unpack here... https://ec.social-network.europa.eu/@EUCommission/114918359067995561 Nice that the EU confirms that housing is a right. Sad that this is more of a nice discourse wrapped around neoliberal policies ("boosting supply, and unlocking investment" = deregulation and subsidies for private investors). I would recommend people to respond the survey, but you need an EU account, which is a little bit a pain in the ass to set up, and since the willingness of the EU Commission to take into account opinions from civil society is ranging somewhere between zero and very little, I don't want anybody to waste their time.

kolektiva.social
Show threadCaptain of the SS El FaroJul 26
@EUCommission cool now pay my rent
Show threadEllen TimmerJul 26

@EUCommission @ellent

Klinkt mooi, maar dit is toch typisch iets voor nationale overheden?

Show threadEuropean CommissionJul 29
Hi @ellent! Thank you for your comment. Indeed, while the main responsibility for housing lies with the local, regional, and national authorities, EU policies and funding programmes support various aspects of the housing market.
We are working alongside national, regional, local governments and other actors in a more coordinated manner to support them in their efforts in making affordable, sustainable, and decent homes available to everyone. Read more: https://europa.eu/!w4Pvhh
What the EU does

Policies of the EU on housing.

Housing
Show thread✰ 𝔽𝕣𝕖𝕕 ✰Jul 29
The main cause of this situation is the complete collapse of the public sector, such that everything must be privatised, like housing, public transport, health insurance, electric infrastructure.

in NL: 🤮VVD🤮

CC: @ellent@mastodon.nl
Show threadPine 🎄:bhjflag_bisexual::anarchy_punk_demiboy:Jul 27
@EUCommission everyone with a brain knows you're going to do absolutely nothing in that regard and instead focus on introducing some technocracy-style solution that curbs our digital rights in the name of "protecting kids".
Oh, you already did?

Fantastic. /s
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-age-verification
The EU approach to age verification

The European Commission is working towards an EU-harmonised approach to age verification.

Shaping Europe’s digital future