"Right to Housing! Now and Forever" is an official European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) to demand affordable, sustainable, and fair housing across the European Union. The ECI is a governance tool that allows citizens to propose new laws for the European Commission to consider. Initiatives must be organized by a group of at least seven EU citizens living in seven different countries and must gather 1 million valid signatures within one year of receiving official approval. The signature collection for "Right to Housing! Now and Forever" launched on September 14, 2026, and aims to collect 1.2 million signatures across the EU to require the European Commission to formally respond to and address the proposal. The project builds on the HouseEurope! European Citizens' Initiative, which focused strictly on building renovation and closed unsuccessfully on January 31, 2026. This new proposal, put forward by a broader coalition, encompasses not only renovation but also financing tools and measures to ensure access.
The proposal is based on the assertion that Europe does not have a housing crisis, but rather a crisis of accessibility. Citing its most everyday manifestations- workers who can no longer afford the city they build, young people who cannot leave their parents' home, tenants pushed out of their neighborhoods after renovation, and empty buildings standing while people sleep on the street- the organizations behind "Right to Housing! Now and Forever" argue that the current housing market puts profit over people and the environment. In support of the proposal, the movement notes that more than 1.1 million people in the EU do not have access to housing, while over 47 million homes and 23 million square meters of offices stand empty. Almost 75% of Europe's oldest buildings are still energy inefficient, and the renovation rate is stuck at just 1% a year, making the housing problem an ecological one as well.
The response from "Right to Housing! Now and Forever" is focused on what can be done immediately, within the existing building stock. The initiative's position is that the fastest, cheapest, and greenest way to house Europe is through its existing buildings: "the homes of tomorrow are already built today at the prices of yesterday." The ECI proposal is therefore based on three axes: use, invest, and protect. To use means to regulate short-term rentals and vacancy; convert empty buildings, such as vacant homes and offices, into housing; and create incentives and fast permits to make renovation the first choice. To invest means ensuring that public money serves people rather than speculation; reforming fiscal rules so governments can invest more in housing; and creating an EU housing fund. To protect means setting enforceable standards to keep housing affordable and sustainable; keeping people in their homes during EU-funded renovation; and establishing an EU Housing Agency to govern transparently.
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"If You Build Ugly Social Housing, You Will Create Social Problems": An Interview with the OBEL Award 2026 RecipientsThe movement brings together a growing coalition of organizations across Europe advocating for housing as a fundamental right, including Allianz für Substanz in Austria; atelier bau, bouwmeester maître architecte Brussels, Carolocataires Ensemble, Community Land Trust Brussels, Rassemblement Bruxellois pour le Droit à l'Habitat, Rassemblement Wallon pour le Droit à l'Habitat, and Syndicat des Immenses in Belgium; Stanari Zajedno and Croatian Permaculture (Hrvatska permakultura) in Croatia; Fake Cities True Stories in the Czech Republic; ACAN Finland and ACAN Norway in Finland; Frugalité, La Vill'Verte, Pavillon de l'Arsenal, and STOP AUX DÉMOLITIONS in France; Architects for Future Deutschland e.V., Traumraum, and unbau in Germany; ACAN Greece and CoHab in Greece; and Clean Air Action Group in Hungary.
The network also includes Carbery Housing Association and Conradh na Gaeilge in Ireland; Scomodo, winwin office, and CENTURY 21 Masters in Italy; Reuse Atelier in Latvia; LUCA – Luxembourg Center for Architecture in Luxembourg; ACAN Netherlands, IABR – International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Full Circle Collaborative, Platform Woonopgave, and Vereniging Deltametropool in the Netherlands; WSPÓŁ in Poland; coopérnico, EAPN Portugal, LAP LAB – Laboratório de Arquitetura do Porto, and ZERO in Portugal; Focus Slovenia, Museum of Architecture and Design Slovenia, and Open House Slovenia (Odprte hiše Slovenije) in Slovenia; Consejo de la Juventud de España and Sostre Cívic in Spain; and ACAN Sweden in Sweden.
All European citizens eligible to vote can sign the initiative digitally on the European Citizens' Initiative website. In line with the goal of expanding access to housing, this year's OBEL Award selected a social housing model as its winner. The Balearic Social Housing Model was recognized for "transforming the role of social housing administration in the Balearic Islands between 2019 and 2023," proposing new approaches in response to an acute housing shortage and a critically limited public rental housing stock in Spain. Also in Spain, Stefano Boeri Architetti was announced as the winner of Casa 47, a competition launched by Spain's Entidad Estatal de Vivienda for a new affordable housing development in Ibiza. In the United States, OMA recently completed 730 Stanyan, a mixed-use affordable housing development in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, which provides 160 permanently affordable homes for low-income families, formerly unhoused families, and Transitional Age Youth (TAY).
