EU to propose short-term rental rules to tackle ‘social crisis’ in housing
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The EU executive will propose rules to tackle the “huge problem” of short-term rentals via platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com, as it seeks to confront the “social crisis” of people struggling to afford a home, its first-ever housing commissioner has said.
In an interview with the Guardian and other European newspapers, Dan Jørgensen said it was time for Brussels policymakers to take housing seriously or cede ground to anti-EU populists, who, he said, did not have the answers to the shortage of affordable homes.
“If we don’t, as policymakers, take this problem seriously and acknowledge that this is a social problem and needs action, then … the anti-EU populists will win,” he said, adding that Brussels had so far “failed to deliver” on some of the key elements of the housing crisis.
Jørgensen, a Danish Social Democrat, has been tasked with crafting the EU’s first-ever affordable housing plan, which is expected to be made public in December. He said publication had been brought forward from 2026, citing the urgency of “the social crisis”.
Brussels has traditionally stayed out of housing policy, but Jørgensen insisted it was a matter for the EU. “The upcoming housing plan will cover areas where it is indeed very clear that [housing] is a European competence and where we have failed to deliver so far … One of those areas is short-term rentals, where we do need more European rules,” he said.
Short-term accommodation, rented via Airbnb and other websites, has boomed across European cities in recent years and been blamed for driving up rents, forcing local people out of historic centres, and turning residential neighbourhoods into tourist zones. Jørgensen said short-term rentals were “a huge problem in many cities” but did not name specific websites or detail any proposals.
Concerns about short-term rentals have come against the backdrop of a general increase in rents and mortgages. Between 2010 and 2023, house prices in the EU increased by 48% and rents by 22% at a time when inflation grew 36%, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat. Some renters and would-be buyers saw much steeper increases: during the same period, rents in Estonia went up by 211%, in Lithuania, 169%, and in Ireland, 98%.
By 2023, nearly 9% of the EU population spent 40% or more of their disposable income on housing, including 29% of the population in Greece, 15% in Denmark and 13% in Germany.
