In July 2005, the European Commission decided that States are not any longer obliged to ask permission of the European Commission to award public subsidies and other public support to allow social housing landlords to perform their public service obligations.
In its position, FEANTSA assesses if and how the Commission’s decision can help Member States to better address homelessness and guarantee access to decent housing for roofless people or other very vulnerable people.
FEANTSA believes the Commission’s decision to exempt social housing is a good basis but does not provide the best legal and political framework for State support for the social housing sector. They believe that important progress has been made with the inclusion of a European framework definition of social housing as a Services of General Economic Interest in the decision.
However, they call upon all actors, public and private bodies, as well as NGOs to discuss how the decision should be implemented at national level and monitored at European level.
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FEANTSA calls on policy makers to end street homelessness by 2010
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The right to health is a human right - FEANTSA’s Annual Report 2006
