For a long time, Europe’s cities had expressed their wish to be more closely involved in decision-making at the EU level. For this reason, the Council of EU Ministers responsible for urban matters adopted the Pact of Amsterdam in June 2016 with the objective of creating an Urban Agenda for the European Union.

Accordingly, this led to the establishment of 12 thematic partnerships in 2016. As a result of the European housing crisis of 2015, the focus of one partnership was on affordable housing as a priority area to be tackled. Specifically, the goal lay in promoting better legislation, better funding instruments and a reorientation of EU state aid as well as intensified knowledge exchange between EU institutions, states, cities and regions in Europe. The main objective lay in supplying a large majority of the population with affordable housing of good quality.

In this respect, the City of Vienna was entrusted, together with Slovakia, with the co-ordination of the players involved (cities and city networks, Member States, stakeholders as well as EU institutions).

The experts of the Housing Partnership analysed the multifaceted housing markets in the individual Member States and drafted an Action Plan outlining recommendations for actions relating to EU legislation; moreover, the Partnership made sure to also integrate key priority areas, such as the protection of vulnerable groups, the fight against speculation or secure tenancy and usage conditions, into the Action Plan. After only three years of intensive work, the Action Plan was presented in December 2018 on the occasion of an international conference held in Vienna.

For further information (in German and English)
https://www.wien.gv.at/wirtschaft/eu-strategie/staedtepartnerschaft-wohnbau.html