Affordable Housing Act

PURPOSE: to establish a framework for measures in Member States to safeguard housing affordability and availability (Affordable Housing Act).

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: the EU is facing a housing affordability crisis that weakens social cohesion and threatens the overall competitiveness of the Union. This crisis is affecting a growing number of households, with a rising number of people facing difficulties in securing quality housing at an affordable price. This affects, in particular, people in vulnerable situations, but also increasingly middle-income households. Housing unaffordability has become a constraint on labour mobility, on access to employment and education opportunities, and on economic development and competitiveness. Therefore, it is essential to address it.

Some Member States have already taken steps to alleviate these pressures but have faced legal challenges regarding compatibility with EU law. The Affordable Housing Regulation provides clarity and predictability and responds to the demand from Member States and municipalities for greater legal certainty about how they can act within the context of the EU single market. It leaves the decision of whether to act and what measures to adopt to the competent authorities. Housing policy choices remain at the national, regional, and local levels.

The proposal is part of the European plan for affordable housing presented by the Commission on 16 December 2025. On 10 March 2026, the European Parliament adopted the final report of the special committee on the housing crisis, which warmly welcomed the Commission's commitment to propose and implement an ambitious European plan for affordable housing.

CONTENT: the proposed regulation establishes a common framework for measures taken by competent authorities to preserve the affordability and availability of housing, with a view to improving the conditions for the establishment and functioning of the internal market. The act aims to provide legal clarity to authorities when they choose to act in areas subject to housing constraints, while preserving the single market and fully respecting the principle of subsidiarity.

The regulation will apply to the following measures taken by the competent authorities, when these measures are justified by the need to preserve the affordability and availability of housing:

- measures restricting access to short-term accommodation rental services or the provision of such services in residential property;

- measures restricting the acquisition or use of land and residential property that is not acquired or used for the purposes of a principal residence, whether occupied by the owner or by another person.

The objective of this proposal is not to harmonise housing policy, but to establish a common framework governing the assessment under Union law of certain housing-related measures intended to safeguard housing affordability and availability. It lays down common requirements for the justification, proportionality, transparency and review of such measures, which includes a common methodology for demonstrating housing stress. It thereby contributes to the

effective functioning of the internal market.

The proposal is accompanied by a Commission Recommendation on housing supply measures in areas under housing stress and complements the Commission’s wider initiatives to increase the supply of affordable housing through simplification, investment and improved construction capacity.