The European Platform on Combatting Homelessness: Delivering the goods against the odds?

Abstract

Homelessness has been a topic discussed – more or less intensely – at European level for at least 30 years. Yet despite repeated efforts by numerous key European Union (EU) players such as the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council formation, the European Parliament, and the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), responsibility for tackling homelessness has long remained almost exclusively in the hands of Member States. With the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) in 2017, this began to change, as its Principle 19 makes
housing and assistance for the homeless a European concern.

With the adoption of the so-called ‘Lisbon Declaration on the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness’ (EPOCH) in 2021 – reinforced by a pledge to end homelessness in the EU by 2030 –, the stage was set for coordinated action, including European-level data collection, mutual learning, and the mobilisation of EU funding (European Commission 2021a). Yet, the Platform is a sui generis institution and the pledge not legally binding. This raises the question of whether EPOCH can deliver on its promise – or is it just window-dressing
with little or no real consequences?

In this chapter, we seek to provide an answer to this puzzle in several steps.

This is Chapter 6 of Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2023, and can be downloaded for free from the link below.