As Europe faces a deepening housing crisis—with soaring prices, stretched urban markets, and rising energy poverty—Christophe Millet (President of the French National Council of Architects) and Ruth Schagemann (President of the Architects’ Council of Europe since 2022) emphasize the urgent need for a united, innovative response at the European level.
1. Rising Pressure on Housing Affordability
Between 2015 and 2023, housing prices across Europe jumped 48%, with rents up by 19%, pushing millions—including 400,000 children—into precarious living conditions, and leaving 47 million Europeans unable to heat their homes properly (cities.newstank.fr).
2. A New Framework at EU Level
- EU Leadership: In July 2024, President von der Leyen placed housing at the heart of her second-term agenda.
- Structures in place: The EU now has Commissioner Dan Jørgensen (Energy & Housing) and a dedicated Housing Task Force, along with a new parliamentary commission probing the crisis (cities.newstank.fr).
3. From Housing to “Habitat”
Drawing on the New European Bauhaus vision, the duo calls for a holistic policy approach that recognizes housing as part of broader spatial systems—encompassing work, leisure, culture, and essential services.
4. Elevating Quality in New and Refurbished Homes
Cost-driven construction trends have often sacrificed living quality—smaller spaces, poor materials, insufficient daylight, lack of communal areas. Millet and Schagemann propose:
- Strengthening the role of architects and independent professionals in safeguarding quality.
- Promoting experimentation, local materials, and sustainable innovation .
5. Conditioning Public Support on Quality
Public investment must demand high construction standards and environmental accountability. Models like Community Land Trusts and France’s Bail Réel Solidaire, which cap resale prices, should be expanded.
6. Inclusive Governance & Collaborative Planning
- Architecture competitions should become the norm to balance quality, public interest, and cost‑efficiency.
- Support should grow for co‑housing, self‑development, and resident‑led cooperatives
7. Reclaiming Unused Spaces
A strategic EU-wide mapping of vacant homes and underused offices could repurpose them into accessible housing. Redirecting funding toward high-performance refurbishments and adaptive reuse is key to environmental & social resilience .
8. Enabling a Sustainable Building Stock
To combat climate and biodiversity crises, the focus should shift from new builds to renovating existing structures using circular‑economy principles:
- Biosourced and reclaimed materials
- Passive and low‑tech solutions
- Urban regeneration and gentle densification
9. Balancing Territorial Demand
Equity in housing must go beyond urban areas. The authors advocate for:
- Subsidies favoring deep renovation and energy performance
- Revitalized city centers
- Balanced development across metropolitan, mid‑sized, and rural contexts, guided by local resource inventories
Why This Matters for ACE
ACE echoed these calls in its recent dialogue with the EU’s Housing Task Force, reaffirming architects’ central role in delivering sustainable, equitable, and high‑quality housing across the continent. As the Affordable Housing Plan unfolds—with expert workshops and public consultations scheduled through autumn 2025—ACE stands ready to influence policy through design competitions, capacity-building, and advocacy, ensuring that quality, equity, and sustainability remain at the core.
Looking Ahead
With the Inxauseta Dialogues set for 29 August 2025 in Bunus, France, Millet and Schagemann’s call invites stakeholders—from architects to policymakers—to build a truly European habitat policy: one that is qualitative, durable, oraz equitable, and that places people and communities at its heart.
Read the tribune in the New Tank Cities: https://cities.newstank.fr/article/view/402635/qualite-durabilite-equite-politique-europeenne-habitat-millet-r-schagemann.html
