Make Homes for People, Not for Profit

Everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to call home, but across Europe, rents are rising faster than salaries and buying a first home often feels out of reach. At the same time, entire neighbourhoods are being hollowed out by holiday lets and unregulated overtourism. To tackle these pan-European issues, the European Commission was tasked to deliver a European Affordable Housing Plan and find solutions to the housing crisis.

Already in August 2024, we launched our "Tell the EU: Homes for People, Not for Profit" campaign, which was maintained throughout 2025 as a tool for ongoing public pressure. We gathered over 64,400 petition signatures calling for urgent housing reforms at the EU level. In November 2025, we launched a new “Make Homes for People, Not for Profit” campaign on housing, with clearer demands and pathways for impact. Our goal was to ensure that European citizens' interests were taken into account in the European Commission’s draft legislation. We also partnered with Build Better Lives (Climate Action Network Europe), which coordinated the Funding Fairer Futures campaign for Fair Housing and Fair Energy for All, a coalition of over 32 groups working on climate and housing action.

Many people across Europe have already expressed solidarity with the topic:

“I have a home, but it hurts me that young people are cut out from ever buying a place of their own, while others are paying such hefty rents. Is this the Europe we can be proud of?” - Athena.

“Too many wealthy people who already own properties can easily buy more - treating housing as an ‘investment’ while others struggle to afford a home.” - Paul.

Our petition alone gathered over 82,000 signatures, while our partners took our demands to the streets, organising different actions. Furthermore, just before the plan was published in December 2025, we launched a postcard campaign, with dozens of postcards sent to Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, responsible for the European Affordable Housing Plan. Thanks to these campaigns, Commissioner Dan Jørgensen started following us on social media, meaning that our content remains visible within his information space. This continuous mobilisation paid back, and on 16 December 2025, when the draft legislation was published, some of our key issues were taken on board: addressing short-term rentals in areas under housing stress; addressing speculation in the housing market; enabling faster and simpler public support for social and affordable housing.

As the legislators aim to approve the European Affordable Housing Plan by June 2026, we will keep informing European citizens and ensure that the biggest profiteers and developers on the housing market do not derail the law’s purpose.