Resolution LIBE

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS

A 2020 European Parliament statistic revealed that more than 700,000 people sleep rough every night in Europe, an increase of 70% over the last 10 years. What measures can the EU adopt to reach its goal of ending homelessnes in Europe by 2030?

Submitted by: Nailah Hofstetter, Stijn Muusse, Martijn Moolhuizen, Peter Schalke, Bebel Piersma, Martha Barlogianni (Chairperson, GR), Carlos Drexhage (Chairperson, ES)

The European Youth Parliament aims to propose realistic measures and steps that could decrease the number of people that sleep rough and protect them from the consequences of homelessness. The goal is to  prevent homelessness and achieve better living conditions, if not adequate housing, for all European citizens,

because

  1. Homeless people often lack education and usually face a large amount of  employment discrimination,
  2. Inadequate housing and isolation can deteriorate people’s mental health,
  3. There are major financial barriers for homeless people to have access to decent healthcare, increasing the risk of the spread of contagious and infectious diseases among them,
  4. Homeless shelters often have poor hygiene and lack of financial resources,
  5. Paying for housing accounts for more than 41% of the budget of low-income families,
  6. Poverty, domestic violence and unemployment are the main causes of homelessness.

Therefore, the European Youth Parliament,

  1. Calls upon the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion to facilitate homeless people’s integration in the labour market through:
  1. further promoting fair job opportunities for people in, or at risk of, homelessness by increasing funding for the European Social Fund,
  2. providing opportunities for paid internships,
  3. educational programs and trainings where they can develop skills that are useful in the search for employment;
  4. Encourages the Mental Health Europe organisation to organise and offer free educational courses regarding mental health issues to homeless shelters;
  5. Calls upon FEANTSA, the Social Protection Committee, and Member States to facilitate homeless people’s integration in society by establishing residences where they will be temporarily provided with adequate health and social support by medical and social care experts;
  6. Highly recommends the European Commission to allocate more funding to homeless centres in order to improve living conditions for the people living there;
  7. Encourages  the European Food Banks Federation and Caritas Europa to distribute essential goods on a monthly basis to low income households to ease their burdens in covering housing costs;
  8. Applauds the International Union of Tenants for advocating for more affordable housing for low income families;
  9. Calls upon Member States to raise awareness on homeless people by acknowledging and  promoting World Homeless Day, on which they campaign for solutions against homelessness;
  10. Calls upon Member States to promote the construction of eco-friendly tiny homes[mfn]Tiny houses are moveable dwellings up to 50m2 that are suitable for residential use.[/mfn] as a temporary solution to homelessness;
  11. Encourages the European Commission to tackle domestic violence by making it a crime under European Union (EU) law;
  12. Calls upon all Member States to ratify the Istanbul convention on preventing and combating domestic violence following the example of countries like Spain, France and Belgium.