The short answer is yes. The European Commission has defined homelessness as:

“situations of living in temporary, insecure or poor-quality housing."

This often involves citizens sleeping on the street, in cars, in tents, or informal emergency accommodations.

According to the European Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA), the levels of homelessness and long-term homelessness in Europe have steadily and rapidly increased to the point where it is now a social emergency.

This is true for every country except Finland, whose homelessness reduction measures are improving significantly.

What is causing homelessness in Europe?

Homelessness in Europe is primarily tied to unemployment and poverty. The inability to afford houses is a two-fold problem. Firstly, unemployment or lack of formal employment puts people in a situation where it is challenging to support their needs.

Secondly, the inaccessibility of the housing market to those in low-income jobs or the unemployed makes it almost impossible for some people to afford permanent housing. Other causal and contributory factors include migration, ageing, health problems, relationship breakdowns and inadequate support for people leaving care facilities, hospitals, prisons or other public institutions.

Why is homelessness an important issue in Europe?

According to research, homeless people may face reduced life expectancy, health risks, social exclusion, discrimination, isolation, poor access to education and barriers to access to basic public services and benefits.

The seriousness of the situation is evident when considering that the homeless are significantly more vulnerable to infectious diseases than the general population. This is likely because of the unsanitary, often crowded places where they are forced to live, such as homeless shelters or over-cramped dormitories, which can become hotspots of infection.

This was a particular concern at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, where infectiousness was a major public health concern in general. To slow the rapid rate of infection, certain efforts were made to protect the homeless and get them off the streets.

These efforts made a substantial difference to general homelessness temporarily, in a very short space of time. And even though infection rates were higher than the general population, the number of hospitalisations and fatalities were not nearly as high as expected.

Exactly how big is the problem?

One of the biggest problems with understanding the extent of homelessness in Europe is that there is no standardised or formalised way to collect data, and The European Commission is not prioritising this information. Rough sleeping, hidden homelessness, street living and people staying in emergency lodgings are only a few examples of the poorly understood issue.

Most statistics on this social issue are either outdated, inconsistent or inaccurate, making it extremely difficult to quantify the magnitude of the problem across multiple countries.  

In the past 10 years, homelessness in EU countries has risen dramatically with a 70% increase in the size of their homeless populations. Studies have revealed that at least 700,000 people are homeless on a given night.

While the problem differs substantially in size and nature within different European countries, it seems a general trend that young people are particularly vulnerable to the lack of affordable housing, overcrowding, and housing deprivation.

A FEANTSA report commented that in general people living below the poverty line are:

“increasingly marginalised by a private rental market that feeds off a systematic lack of affordable housing”.

This is making it harder and harder for young people to avoid homelessness but also makes it nearly impossible for anyone to climb back above the poverty line.

According to the same report, cities such as London, Paris, Brussels, Dublin, Vienna, Athens, Warsaw and Barcelona are key cities in which the housing system is under heavy strain, and the homeless population within these cities has grown as a result.  

What is being done about homelessness?

It has been argued that the tools necessary to address the challenges of housing exclusion and homelessness in Europe already exist. At the European level, several networks – including local, regional, governmental, NGOs, public authorities, and civil society collectives and institutions – have committed to making housing accessible to all.

This is in line with the EU pillar of social rights, which aims to protect individuals' human rights as they pertain to housing.

Finland, to date, is the only country that has been able to reduce homelessness meaningfully, with a reduction of 19% between 2009 and 2017.

This reduction started with an Action Plan to end homelessness and was characterised by the Housing First approach, a consistent policy of providing affordable housing financed by the state, making it easier for homeless people to access permanent residences.

While already showing the lowest numbers in Europe, Finland aims to halve the number of homeless people by 2024 and completely end homelessness by 2027.

Many European countries are making efforts to follow Finland's lead in reducing homelessness. The UK, for example, is currently trying to implement Finland's Housing First approach and attempting to use it at a meaningful scale.

Germany has in recent times been listed as the EU country with the largest homeless population. This is believed to be due to the large influx of refugees and migrants.

Germany, has, however, reported that the government had made a significant effort to create a large number of high-quality, well-funded shelters, to the point where German public authorities believe that homelessness is now under control.

In France, there is a significant political push to recognise the situation's urgency. However, the influx of undocumented migrants entering the country has made quantifying the problem difficult. And thus proved to be a stumbling block for policymakers to react to the issue appropriately.

It is no surprise that the initiatives are not yet slowing the problem. Finland has been using its measures to solve homelessness for around 15 years. And according to Freek Spinnewijin, director of FEANTSA, countries should not be under the illusion that they can solve the issue of homelessness within the time of a political mandate. It takes much more time than that to make a substantial change.

How was homelessness affected by the pandemic?

During the COVID-19 crisis, many public and private authorities took incredible measures to assist the homeless by providing temporary solutions for their immediate need.

For example, the Netherlands invested €50m for vulnerable groups, including the homeless, and Brussels, where they housed 1,000 people in hotels and hostels that were rendered empty due to tourism restrictions. This demonstrates the capabilities present to address the homeless situation and further prompts the question of why it has not yet been addressed effectively.

There is a major concern that these emergency measures are not sustainable and will likely result in an even bigger problem as Europe emerges from the pandemic. When tourism rises, the hotels and lodges will not be able to host the homeless, and the impact COVID-19 has had on jobs is also likely to cause a new wave of citizens unable to pay rent.

Is homelessness worse in the UK or Europe?

Homelessness statistics are often challenging to compare because of the different methods of collection, times of collection and most importantly, the definition of homelessness.

However, purely to contrast the difference in homelessness between the UK and the rest of Europe, statistics from 2018 show the UK has roughly 92,297 homeless per night.

On the other hand, France reported 143,000 in 2012, and Germany reported 860,000 in 2016. These statistics suggest that homelessness in the UK is not categorically worse than elsewhere in Europe, but further study is necessary to confirm the extent of the phenomenon at similar points in time.

While the homelessness situation is worsening in greater Europe - The Finnish Housing First and Housing Led programs are good examples of how practical action can and should be made to address homelessness.

Furthermore, as the European Commission launches the action plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights, there is significant potential for reducing this major social issue.

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